#Children's Swimming Lessons Near Me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

t-lostinworlds · 1 year ago

Text

Competitively Stupid | Steve Harrington

》 PAIRING: steve harrington x female!reader

》 TROPE/GENRE: rivals-ish (since childhood) to lovers, some angst; fluff

》 SUMMARY: It was stupid, jumping off a cliff just to prove that you were better than Steve fucking Harrington. But you were competitive. You were not losing to him. But you know what was stupider? For it to take a near-death situation for you both to confess what you truly feel for each other.

》 WARNINGS: canon divergent (everyone is alive & well & happy thanks), pet names (sweetheart, baby), shitty parents (on both sides), competitiveness on all accounts, r is basically a counterpart of steve during high school (cheerleading captain, queen of hawkins high, swim team captain, etc.), peer pressure-ish, some stupid decisions & stupider actions, very irresponsible cliff jumping (which doesn't end well), drowning, CPR, injuries, an emotional moment™, love confessions, and a happy, sappy ending.

》 WORD COUNT: 5.3k+

A/N: hi! okay, well, it's been a while since i posted a steve fic so i'm kinda nervous ngl. also, not me making it a habit to include swimmer!steve in all my fics from here on out. this was meant to be short & sweet to dust off the cobwebs but lol. super random. i saw a video of someone cliff-jumping & boom, the idea was born. also, not me using the first aid training i learned in college.

📍 BLOG NAVIGATION ✩ STEVE H. MASTERLIST ✩ MAIN MASTERLIST ✩

⊱ ─────.⋅♚ *｡･ﾟ.★. *｡･ﾟ✫*.

This was stupid.

Absolutely idiotic.

You genuinely have no idea why you were even doing this in the first place.

"There's no way you can do it."

Right.

That's why.

The taunting voice of Steve fucking Harrington was the reason why you were standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at a thirty-foot drop into the dark ocean.

This was supposed to be a relaxing trip with your new found family.

"You know you don't have to listen to him, right?" Robin sighed, so completely over the fact that her two best friends who never got along no matter what she tried, somehow came to an agreement to not listen to her right now.

Not that you could blame her.

You and Steve had been rivals ever since you were kids.

It was what you had always known.

What with narcissistic parents who used their children as pawns to one up each other, you had been conditioned to see him as an enemy from the second you step foot into their home.

Your family was invited into the Harrington residence for dinner as a way of welcoming you to the neighborhood. You recently just moved in, so you didn't know anyone else yet. When you heard that the next-door neighbor had a son who was your age, you had been really excited to gain a new friend.

All that changed when your dad sat you down an hour before, prepping you about how the Harringtons were a respected family in the town, and that you needed to show them you weren't any less than them, if not show them you were better. He drilled it in your brain to be on your best behavior, to be the best and the perfect daughter.

It only got worse when you finally sat down at that dinner table.

The comparisons were endless.

"See, my daughter here is a wonderful gymnast, quite amazing for someone her age."

"How wonderful. Steven here has swimming lessons every weekend. His coach said he might end up in the Olympic team once he's of age."

"Splendid. How about his academics? I'm sure he can take inspiration from my daughter's exemplary grades."

"He's the top of his class. Maybe if they study together, your daughter would be able to catch up in time."

It was harsh, pitting two seven-year-olds against each other—impressionable kids who only wanted to make their mom and dad proud.

But neither your parents nor his truly gave a shit. All they cared about was becoming the best family in the street, if not the whole town.

The sad thing was, those dinners became a regular thing, held alternately between your house and his.

It always looked like a preparation for battle whenever your mom would pull out the finest china in her collection along with the cookbook she only ever used for special occasions.

It was in the guise of cordiality when it was, in fact, an excuse to show off, to make a competition out of everything, a moment to compare who did what best. Those dinners were like monthly scoreboards, tallying up the respective families' recent achievements—and that included yours and Steve's.

Nobody was surprised that the competitiveness stuck with you both.

And it only got worse during high school.

Whether that was something as mundane as winning the popularity contest when running different circles—even going as far as getting crowned the King and Queen of Hawkins High—down to academics and extracurriculars.

Captain of the basketball team. Captain of the cheerleading squad. Prom Queen. Prom King. MVP of the season. Brightest student of the year. Beer pong Queen. Kegstand King. Best summer camp counselor. Lifeguard of the month and it went on and on and on and on.

When he got co-captain for the men's swim team, you rubbed it in his face that you were the captain of the women's team. When you got second place at the science fair, he made sure to rub his first place medal right in your face. When you became president of the student council, you ordered him around to do extra work whenever the basketball team was required to help with community service.

It was a constant back and forth.

There was always a competition between you and Steve Harrington.

And sure, since you graduated, it became subdued. But it was still very much there. Vying on who was the coolest babysitter in your band of ragtags, even fighting to have the title of Robin Buckley's ultimate best friend.

This thing between you and Steve was deeply rooted. So there really wasn't much Robin could do apart from getting in between your frequent squabbles before you started actually killing each other.

In Robin's words, something drastic had to happen for you both to finally wake up and see that this rivalry between you both wasn't what it seemed to be on the surface.

You had no idea what she was even implying.

Now, on a little getaway on the nearest beach you could drive to, the competition started with a race on who could get there first. It wasn't even fair seeing that you weren't the one driving.

The group had split into two, some were in Eddie's van—along with everyone's belongings since he had ample space in the back—while the others were in Steve's Beemer. Since you and Steve couldn't be in the same room together without an argument ensuing, it was a unanimous decision to have you two separated. Nobody wanted to deal with that for hours on the road.

Not that you could blame them, either.

And sure, it was the kids who suggested the race, but with Steve's smug smirk and that arrogant wink he threw once you got into Eddie's passenger seat, you knew it was game on between you too.

Yet despite the metal head being a fast—albeit slightly reckless—driver, he somehow took his sweet goddamn time getting to your destination.

Only when your group arrived at the beach last, did he say something about Steve threatening him to be extra careful with driving because there's important cargo in his van—whatever the hell that meant.

You lost to Steve on that one, but you would argue it was rigged from the start.

The next was a supposed friendly bout on who could build the biggest sandcastle that didn't topple over after a few minutes.

It was boys versus girls with you and him being team leaders. The girls won, obviously and El never used her powers. It was fair and square since the other team mostly argued over everything they could think of and had no teamwork at all. You made sure to point that out to Steve as you watched their sandcastle crumble into ruins.

Another one was beach volleyball. Same leaders as before, but you get to pick the members of your teams this time. Steve made it his mission to pick the tallest of the bunch. Still, it wasn't the advantage he thought it was because it ended up being one point too close.

Your team would've won if Steve wasn't such a dramatic asshole.

It was truly an accident. When you spiked that ball, you were not aiming for his face. He simply thought it was a good idea to catch the ball with it. Besides, he was distracted, flirting with some random girl in a bikini who was passing by, right in the middle of the game.

How was it your fault that he wasn't paying attention?

He made sure to oversell his injury after that, curled up on the sand as the girl fussed over him. But you saw that smirk on his face. You would've hit him again—definitely not by accident this time—if you weren't busy arguing with Robin about the point deduction. She said it was only fair since you hit the ball when she hadn't blown her imaginary whistle yet.

You decided to let it go when Steve commented on you being a whiny sore loser.

Unfortunately, the competition was ending with who could make jumping off a cliff and into the ocean look the coolest—adults only, despite the groans of protest from the mischievous bunch.

Eddie offered to stay behind and watch the rascals. When teased, he simply said he didn't want to test Death today.

His comment didn't help your nerves.

Robin said she was only coming purely as a voice of reason. She'd been saying nonstop how it was a horribly stupid idea, that there really was no need to be doing this in the first place.

But Steve wasn't backing down, so you weren't going to either.

So once again, it was only you and him.

As it always had been.

He volunteered to go first, throwing in a comment about rushing back up the cliff's edge before you could take your turn because he wanted a front-row seat for when you'd chicken out.

It only made you want to do it more.

His dive was smooth, almost flawless, you admit. He even showed off with a little flip near the end. It didn't take long for him to swim back to the shore, either. His years of training as a swimmer were obviously paying off.

But you trained just as much if not more than he had.

The only difference was, adrenaline didn't fuel you as much as it did Steve. So instead of getting all powered up looking down at a cliff's edge like he was, you were terrified.

But who wouldn’t get scared looking down at harsh waves crashing against sharp and jagged rocks? There was no margin for error here because one wrong slip and you'd be dead.

Still, if Steve could do it, you could do it better.

You weren't about to lose to his stupid ass.

"I'm not listening to him," you argued back, taking in a shaky breath as you took a step.

"He's doing reverse psychology!" she squeaked. "So you doing it is still listening to him!"

"I'm fine, Robs, I can do it," you mumbled, a slight questioning lilt at the end of your sentence.

"Look, sweetheart, it's okay to admit defeat," Steve said, cocky voice with an even cockier smile as he crossed his toned arms against his bare chest. His hair was still damp, quick to climb back up so he could get his front-row seat as he promised.

But you weren't chickening out.

Never.

"I mean, it wouldn't be the first time you lost to me so, it shouldn't sting as much."

You ignored him.

Instead, you took another step, the tips of your toes now hanging over the edge.

You can do this. Wipe that smug smirk off his face. You got this.

"Listen, you don't have to do—"

"Shut it, Harrington," you growled.

With a deep breath, you closed your eyes, counting from three, two, one…

You jumped.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

This was stupid.

Absolutely idiotic.

He shouldn't have pressured you like that.

The jump wasn't deadly, per se, but it also wasn't exactly deemed the safest, especially if you weren't an expert in any sort of way.

And he didn't want to say it out loud because if he did, he knew it would only push you to do it more just to prove him wrong.

But Steve could see how scared you were.

He was already dropping the act, voice laced with concern as he started telling you that he wasn't worth all of this, that he was stupid and that you were always going to be better than him.

But, obviously, you didn't listen.

You simply jumped.

You and your stupidly competitive ass.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath, rushing to the edge of the cliff, tensely watching your falling figure disappear into the water with a splash.

"You two are complete idiots."

"Shut up," Steve gritted, never looking away from the water. Yet any annoyance was quickly overpowered by sheer worry as he scanned the deep blue for anything.

There was no sign of you.

"Like seriously! It's like I'm the only one with a brain cell here!"

"Come on, come on, come on," Steve mumbled, completely ignoring Robin when you still hadn't emerged to the surface. "Come on, Y/N, don't scare me like this."

"Uh, Steve?" Robin asked after a moment, carefully looking over the cliff before shooting him a worried glance. "You look anxious and you being anxious is making me nervous."

"She hasn't come up," he grumbled, glancing at his watch.

It was nearing a minute.

"Maybe you didn't see her?"

"I haven't taken my eyes off the water, Buckley," he gritted, too harsh and uncalled for since Robin didn't do anything wrong.

But he was panicking.

A minute and thirty seconds.

"Come on, sweetheart, you can do it. You're an amazing swimmer," he whispered encouragingly, hoping some sort of magic would let you hear him underwater all while saying it aloud for his own sanity.

Two minutes.

You could never hold your breath any longer than that.

Steve knew because he always won that competition.

And that was in a calm pool.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, gearing up to dive after you. "I don't think she's coming up!"

"Okay! Okay," Robin rushed, panicking. "Maybe she's already on the shore. We should go down now and see—"

Steve didn't listen.

He jumped right after you.

The biting cold was awakening.

Still, it was the absolute fear of losing you that was keeping him alert.

He ignored the sting of the salty ocean water in his eyes as he frantically searched for you, his heart beating hard and fast, struggling for oxygen all while fearing for your safety.

Steve didn't know which came first, relief or dread when finally found you, aimlessly floating and unconscious under the deep blue.

He swam to you as fast he could, securely hooking his arm under your shoulder and dragging you up to the surface.

Steve always knew that adrenaline can give you a random boost of strength when needed. He simply didn't expect that to be proven true when he was carrying your unresponsive body in his arms as he brought you to the shore.

He gently placed you on your back on the sand, cupping your face as he checked for any injuries.

You were so cold.

"Hey, hey, wake up," he begged, grabbing your shoulders to try and shake you awake.

Nothing.

"You didn't have to make the jump, you idiot. Why do you always want to prove me wrong," he scolded with no ounce of anger, only worry. He started tapping your cheek frantically. "Come on, wake up!"

Still no response.

"Dammit, Y/N, why'd you have to be so fucking stubborn," he scolded, his voice shaking in fear, his chest tightening as he pressed two fingers against your pulse point.

His own heart stopped when he couldn't feel yours.

And you weren't breathing.

Steve tried to keep himself calm. If he panicked now, he wouldn't be able to give you the aid that you direly need.

"Come on, Harrington. You know what to do. You trained for this," he mumbled to himself, getting into the proper position to give you CPR.

He gently cupped your forehead with his left hand, his other two fingers under your chin as he tilted your head up.

"You're going to be okay," he whispered, pinching your nose before slotting his lips against yours.

Breathing into your mouth, one, two, he watched your chest rise as it filled up with air, only for it to settle back down without coming back up again. He quickly kneeled straighter, locking his fingers together and placing the heel of his left hand in the middle of your chest, pushing down with enough pressure to try and get your heart to start again.

"One, two, three, four, come on, sweetheart, breathe for me," he mumbled, easily finding the right rhythm, his first aid training as a lifeguard coming back to him like it was second nature.

Still, he never wanted to use this skill in a real-life situation, much less use it on you.

It was the longest thirty counts in his life.

Check for a pulse. Check for breathing.

Still nothing.

"Goddammit, Y/N, come on!" he growled, blinking back the tears as he pressed his mouth against yours again.

Two rescue breaths.

Thirty chest compressions.

Steve repeated the cycle over and over. His eyes were stinging with unshed tears, his knees were burning as the rough sand dug deeper into his skin, and his arms were starting to get sore, tiredness slowly covering his aching muscles.

But he'd rather die first than give up on you now.

"Steve—"

"Call for help, Robin!" he ordered, not taking his eyes off you for even a second. When he didn't hear any movement, he yelled, "Don't just stand there! Go!"

He was going to apologize for being an asshole later. For now, he needed you to fucking breathe.

"Come on, come on, please," he begged, leaning back down to give you two more rescue breaths. "Breathe for me, baby, please."

Thirty chest compressions.

"Trying to prove me wrong when I've always been wrong, you idiot."

Five, six, seven—

"Sweetheart, come on," he choked back a sob. "Who's going to call me out when I'm being stupid, huh? You know Robin can't do it alone."

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen—

"And you're really going to leave me alone to watch our kids?"

Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two—

"Y/N, baby, please, I can't live without you," he whimpered.

Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thir—

Steve felt his breath leave his lungs when you finally gasped for air.

He quickly turned you to your side, rubbing your back as you choked out all the ocean water that got into your system.

"There you go, you're okay," he whispered, whether to reassure you or himself, he didn't even know anymore. All he was focused on was making sure you were going to be okay.

"S-Stevie?" you coughed out the nickname that was only ever used by you.

It was the equivalent to his nickname for you—sweetheart.

Names that started out to annoy each other but the more often it was used as time passed, it only managed to grow into an endearment that held something warm underneath it. You both were quick to realize that the nicknames you had for each other weren't out of spite anymore.

Neither of you simply addressed it.

"Steady, sweetheart, I'm right here," he reassured, hurriedly getting into your line of sight to stop you from trying to turn around to face him. He gently cupped your cheek, offering you a soft smile when your gaze found him. "I'm not going anywhere."

You nodded as best as you could, your eyes clinging onto his brown ones only for them to screw shut when a shiver ran through your whole body.

"C-Cold," you stammered.

"I know, I know, come here," he said softly, guiding you to sit up before quickly settling behind you. He gently pulled you closer between his legs, his chest pressed against your back as he blanketed his body over yours, rubbing your arms to keep you as warm as possible.

You turned to face him slightly, burying your face into his neck only for you to wince at the slight movement. He quickly tried to steady you again, checking over you twice to look for any visible injury. But he couldn't find any.

"Tell me what hurts," he asked, pressing his lips against your cold forehead as he fully wrapped his arms around you.

"A-Ankle," you whimpered in pain, your grip on his waist tightening and God he hated that sound so much.

You must've rolled it when you jumped, and having landed on it when you reached the water, it definitely made it worse.

"It's okay, you're okay," he murmured, littering kisses against the side of your head to try and keep your mind off it. "Robin already called for help, they should be on their way, alright?"

You gave him a small nod, inching even closer to him, seeking as much warmth from him as possible. Your cold breath was tickling his skin but he didn’t care. Hell, you could be breathing fucking ice and he still wouldn’t give a shit.

As long as you were breathing.

"I need you to stay awake for me, okay?"

"I-I'll try," you whispered.

"First to fall asleep is the biggest loser," he mumbled, squeezing you slightly when he felt your eyes flutter close. "And you wouldn't want me to win this, babe, because I'll be a little shit about it."

"Not f-fair," you choked out a laugh.

"It's plenty fair," Steve chuckled tearfully, ignoring the sudden wetness on his cheeks. He hugged you tighter instead. "So stay awake or you'll lose to me. Again."

"Right there! They're right over there!"

Steve had never been so grateful to hear Robin's voice.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-

"So are you finally going to tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Steve questioned back, unable to take his eyes off of you, soundly sleeping in a hospital bed with your foot now wrapped in a cast.

The doctor had already checked everything and thankfully, there weren't any further injuries apart from your twisted ankle.

Now, all you needed was to rest and recover.

"That you've been in love with her this whole time."

Steve sighed, squeezing your hand before turning to look at his best friend.

"I'm not in love with her, Robs."

"Right," she scoffed, raising a knowing brow. "Because jumping off a cliff with zero hesitation so you could save her is totally normal behavior for someone you claim you hate."

"I never said I hated her," he argued, and it was true. He couldn't think of a single moment where he hated you.

"Yeah, well, you two definitely don't act like you like each other."

"Does she annoy and frustrate the shit out of me? Yes. But I never hated her," he admitted.

Steve didn't know what it was exactly, maybe it was his tiredness muddling his brain, maybe it was from everything that happened in the last couple of hours finally catching up to him, or maybe it was the overwhelming need to confess everything into the open before it was too late—and it almost had been. Either way, he found himself suddenly spewing out all the things that he always just kept to himself.

"She's also been the most constant person in my life, you know? Hell, we basically grew up together. I can't just not care about her," he continued, memories flooding his system before he could even stop it. "She's been so ingrained in my life, her and the cute dresses she wore at those stupid dinners our parents always dragged us to. Her and her stupid competitions whenever our babysitters would bring us to the park together. Her and that stupid dance she always did whenever she won at anything even if it was my expense—she always does this cute little wiggle whenever she won, and that never left her even as we got older," Steve chuckled at the thought.

"And fuck, don't even get me started with how similar our parents are. She's the only one who will always get me when it comes to that," he continued. "And yeah, we compete a lot, but there was no hatred between us. Maybe at the start but all that went away when we learned that whatever our parents were feeding us was bullshit—that they were bullshit.

"And fine, did I sometimes get so annoyed whenever she got a new boyfriend? Yeah. But only because she always had this bad habit of dating fucking assholes. I don't know where she got those dickheads from but every time I see a glimpse of her crying by her window at night I swear to fucking God I would've killed every single one of those assholes if she asked," he gritted, slumping down in his seat with a sigh.

"She deserves to be treated right, you know? She's already experiencing so much shit at home, she doesn't need any more of that anywhere else. Sure, she irritates me to no end but that doesn't mean she's not a sweet girl who always cried whenever some random pet commercial came on the TV during the holidays. Does her competitiveness drive me up the wall? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean I don't feel so fucking proud of her whenever she wins another medal or achieves another milestone. And yeah, I wonder about how she's doing, if she's taking care of herself, if she's getting enough sleep between her work and classes. But that's only because I worry, you know?

"And maybe I do think about her a lot but that doesn't mean I'm in love with…"

Steve blinked.

Well fuck.

"Wow," Robin marveled. "You're stupider than I thought."

"He hit his head as a kid, cut him some slack."

Steve paled at the sound of your voice, swiftly turning red at the thought that you probably heard all the things he said.

He turned to face you, groaning in annoyance when he saw the smug smile on your lips. "You've been awake this whole time?"

"I'll leave you two love birds alone," Robin sang, quickly slipping out of the hospital room and closing the door behind her.

"How much of that did you hear?" Steve asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Enough to say you're stupid," you hummed.

He rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat with crossed arms. "I'm not the one who jumped off the cliff and almost died just to prove a fucking point."

"Yeah, well, I guess we're both stupid then," you snorted.

He shrugged. "I guess we are."

"Jesus, you don't have to act so tense. I mean, you've already given me a mouth-to-mouth, we've practically made out already," you scoffed playfully. "I honestly thought I'd die first before swapping spit with you yet here we are."

It was your attempt at alleviating the tension, to throw in a funny quip. But with everything still so fresh in his mind, Steve simply couldn't take it well.

"Don't fucking joke about that will you?" he snapped, rubbing a frustrated hand over his face.

The silence that followed only made the tension worse.

"I'm sorry," you whispered.

Steve immediately felt bad.

"No, no, no. You didn't do anything wrong, don't apologize," he sighed, meeting your eyes with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. It's just—"

He stopped himself, chewing on his bottom as he looked everywhere but at you when he felt the tears well up again.

"Will you come here?"

Steve took a calming breath and did as you asked, moving his chair closer but didn't attempt anything else than that.

"Stevie," you called when he still wouldn't look at you.

Harshly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, he lifted his head. You smiled at him sweetly, wiggling your fingers to get him to come even closer.

"You scared me back there," he croaked, taking your hand with a squeeze.

"I didn't mean to," you softly said, remorseful and apologetic even though you didn't have to be.

"I know," he murmured, pressing your warm palm against his cheek as he shot you a glare. "Just don't do that again."

"Promise," you giggled, stroking his cheek with your thumb.

Steve leaned closer into your touch. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to you," you hummed, brows furrowing in thought. "When Marcus got that black eye, you said it was because he was playing dirty on one of your games." You tilted your head knowingly. "That wasn't true, wasn't it?"

Steve shrugged. "He hurt you."

"It was a small bruise on the arm, Steve," you reasoned.

"He shouldn't be giving you a fucking bruise in the first place," he growled, the memory bringing back the same anger he felt when he first saw that bruise. The soft tapping of your finger against his cheek calmed him down. "Sorry."

"Did you lose on purpose to get him expelled?"

"What? No!" he scoffed, offended, rolling his eyes when you giggled. "I tried so fucking hard to win that fight, you know, for you."

"You've always been protective of me," you hummed, taking his hand and interlacing your fingers together.

"Don't think I didn't know it was you who dyed that poor girl's hair green that one year in middle school summer camp," he retaliated.

It was a sharp and piercing scream that woke up the whole camp that morning. Everyone rushed out of bed to see what was going on only to find a girl who once was blonde was now sporting bright green hair in the middle of the crowd, crying her eyes out.

Steve would've thought it was only some silly prank if he didn't know who the girl was. But he did. Because the day before he tried to ask her to be his girlfriend, only for her to turn him down in the most embarrassing and humiliating way possible.

It wasn't difficult for him to find out who the culprit was since he immediately noticed how you kept hiding your hands in your pockets for the next few days after the incident.

The counselors quickly found out that the little menace—whoever she was—decided to use permanent dye on the poor girl's hair instead of something washable.

Your green palms colored you oh so guilty.

"She called you pathetic and gross in front of everyone!" you argued, pouting. "You looked like you were about to cry and I hated it."

Steve's heart warmed at that, a smile on his face despite rolling his eyes. "I wasn't about to cry."

"Yeah well," you shrugged, eyes trained on your intertwined fingers, your thumb playing with his. "I'm the only one who's supposed to be mean to you."

"Hmm," he agreed, bringing the back of your hand to his lips. "I guess we've always been there for each other, huh?"

"I guess so," you giggled, cupping his cheek and tugging him closer.

He stood up from his seat, following your lead until he was pressing his forehead against yours.

"Thank you for saving my life, Steve," you whispered, eyes turning glossy as so many emotions covered your irises, the weight of what almost happened catching up with you.

"You don't have to thank me for that," he said sincerely, brushing the tip of his nose against yours. "I'd do it over and over again in a heartbeat."

You nodded, sniffling, "Still, thank you."

Steve wasn't able to argue some more when you all but kissed him.

The first time Steve felt your mouth on his was a horrible experience considering he was trying to keep you alive.

Now, everything was the complete opposite.

A kiss that was careful but sweet, a hint of nervousness and excitement all the same, completely unhurried yet burning with passion as his lips molded against yours.

But still, it felt like that first gasp of air—a finally.

"I'm in love with you, too, by the way," you murmured as you pulled away, your warm breath tickling his lips.

"Thanks for clarifying," he chuckled, eyes laced with adoration, unable to stop his smile from growing wider, warmer. "I couldn't figure that out from the kiss."

"I mean, you are kinda stupid," you teased.

"We're on that same boat, sweetheart," he chuckled. "I'm sure Robin would remind us about that every single day now."

"Unfortunately," you groaned playfully. "God, she gets annoying when she's right."

"Tell me about it," he hummed, brushing his lips against yours, moving away when you chased it.

You whined.

Steve didn't hesitate to dive back in.

✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.★.*｡･ﾟ♛ *.

↬ thank you for reading lovely! reblog & leave a comment if you enjoyed! feedback is always appreciated! ++ consider supporting me on ko-fi if you can <3

✉ NO TAGLIST: go follow @t-lostinlibrary and turn on notifications to get updated on my works!

© t-lostinworlds, 2023 ✘ I do NOT give any permission to repost, translate, & use any of my works (writings, gifs, dividers, etc.) on any platform, with credit or otherwise. Please respect that. Thank you.

#cs #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington angst #steve harrington x female reader #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x you #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic #my writing

756 notes · View notes

tulipsandperfume · 2 years ago

Text

I see you || Neteyam X Reader

Summary: You want to become friends with a certain Na'vi. Who would have known that your friendship would change completely?

Genre: Fluff, very slight angst

When the Sully Family arrived, you didn't think much of it, or so you told your siblings. You wouldn't lie to yourself and say that seeing Jake Sully, the Toruk Makto, hadn't fascinated you. After all, having grown up with stories about how he united the clans and defeated the Sky People, Jake Sully had become a sort of role model, someone whose strength you coveted.

After a back and forth between Neytiri and Ronal during which Tonowari and Jake wore heavy expressions, the final decision was made. The Sullys would stay and your siblings would help then navigate this new way of life. You were not requested to help seeing as you had a variety of other duties to handle. Being the oldest came with its cons and an overbearing responsibility. However, you could still visit them and make friends once you had the chance. But not now, not when you had a thousand things to take care of.

You walked swiftly past the Sullys towards the ocean and by doing so, caught the attention of a certain Na'vi and his sister.

"Hey, aren't you meant to help us?" Voiced Kiri, eyeing you suspiciously. Neteyam gave her a slight nudge, warning her to stop being rude.

"Sorry, I'm really busy so can't show you around. But my sister and brothers are sure to make you feel welcomed. If you need any help or my siblings give you any trouble, shout for me." You shot them your warmest smile and a slight nod before turning back towards the ocean. Tsireya urged them to follow her but Neteyam continued to watch your figure as you entered the water and called for your ilu, an unreadable expression etched onto his face.

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

As the days went by, you had made certain to check up on the Sullys whenever you got the chance, bringing an occasional gift when you could. Jake seemed to have warmed up to you somewhat but Neytiri, well, it was a work in progress.

From what Tsireya had told you, the children were learning quickly. Their riding ability had improved greatly aswell as how long they could remain underwater. Whenever she gave you the daily news, you noticed how she spoke more of Lo'ak and how a small smile would linger on her lips as she explained how great his breathing had gotten and just how amazing he was. You would have teased her about it but worried that she might stop sharing her day's events so left it for another time.

Besides, who were you to tease her when you yourself had gained an interest in someone? It wasn't anything compared to whatever was going on between her and Lo'ak but you found that you unconsciously watched him during his lessons and that you would wait for Tsireya to speak of him, particularly finding interest in his improvement more so than others. What you found most interesting was how he would catch your gaze and how he seemed to always been near when you worked near the beach or in the ocean. Maybe it was time to go make a friend.

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

The next day, you were swimming around in the ocean, wanting a moments rest from your father's demands and your mother's heavy gaze. You closed your eyes and just enjoyed the peace that the water provided, until a series of shouts and jeers interrupted your brief period of tranquility.

Quickly, you swam to the surface, searching for the source of those annoying squeals and wanting revenge for your ruined peace. You spotted Kiri and Lo'ak being harassed by your brother and his friends and instantly made your way to them. Before you made it onto land to intercept the argument, Neteyam strode to Aonung's side, pushing him back.

"You heard what she said. Leave them alone." He spoke, a protective aura surrounding him.

"Ah, big brother come-" Aonung signalled his friend to stop, raising his hands up in surrender. You didn't expect that, after all your brother was always itching for a fight. Neteyam had that sort of effect on people, made people want to respect him.

You had thought that would be the end of it and were ready to swim away, opting to forget about seeking revenge on you brother. He was being mature so you'd leave him be as a reward.

However, your moment of pride was short-lived when Lo'ak started a fist fight. This time, Neteyam joined in. You let them fight for a bit, finding it amusing how boisterous they were being and just how stupid it was.

Wiping your grin off your face, you swam to the shore and glared down at their bruised faces. Your disappointed expression was enough to have them stop their kerfuffle.

"Skxawng. Get up." You spat, grabbing an ear and a tail. You exchanged glances with Neteyam who had a bruised lip. He shot you a wary smile to which you smirked. It was time to make a friend.

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

After the parents came to learn about the incident and you gave Aonung and Rotxo an earful, you grabbed some medicine and searched for Neteyam. This would be the perfect chance to get to learn more about the strange Na'vi.

The next few days, you spent whatever free time you had with Neteyam. Initially, he seemed surprised and there was a slight awkwardness in the air. But as time went on, your relationship improved and you felt you could honestly call him a friend.

Through short conversations as you made you way to your respective duties and longer ones when the sun was dying and Na'vi resting, you had learned that you two were much more alike than expected. Neteyam, also being the oldest, constantly had the burden of being the golden child and living up to his father's glory to which you could sympathise. When one felt like a disappointment, a failure, the other would be there to offer comfort and advice.

Soon, your friendship seemed to shift. Touches lingered for longer than necessary and were more intimate. A cheesy grin and a warm, bubbly feeling in your stomach lasted long after your meetings. It was a wondeful feeling and yet it worried you. Were you sick or had you not eaten enough?

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

One night, you and Tsireya sat in your Marui, a sweet silence in the air and the sound of water swaying beneath you. The feelings that Neteyam left you with were becoming almost to much to bear and so, against your better judgment, you shared your worries with your sister.

"I don't know what is wrong. There is this feeling in my stomach. It's not a good feeling nor a bad feeling. Am I sick, Tsireya?" You inquired. Tsireya turned to you and giggled. A heartfelt giggle as she rolled slightly on the floor.

"My dear sister, I thought you were smarter than this. It is love, of course. Not a sickness." She squeaked, struggling to speak through gasps for air and fits of laughter.

Hearing the word"love" left your mind reeling, a sense of confusion yet relief battling in your head. Love. It made sense. Yes, you were in love. Now, another question arose. Did Neteyam like you?

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

For the hours between your conversations, Neteyam was all you could think about it. It got to a point where your quality of work was slipping and your parents had noticed. Rotxo jogged up to you, saying that Tonowari was calling for you and to be careful since he seemed upset. So, you ran to the Marui of the Olo'eyktan.

Between the time of your entrance to the time of your exit, all you heard was disappointment and anger and sheer dissatisfaction from your father. Being the oldest came with its cons.

By the time you left and were walking towards the ocean in need of some solitude, the day had transformed to night. You watched the stars through tears and couldn't help but let out a quiet sob. You let your tears fall, not bothered about your image at this time.

A hand on your shoulder brought you back to reality and quickly, you put distance between yourself and the intruder whilst grabbing the knife at your hip. Seeing Neteyam there, hands up and a worried expression on his face, your calmed down and put the knife away.

He walked towards you, arms outstretched. You walked into his arms, letting yourself cry into his chest as he caressed your head. The both of you stood their, enjoying the peace of night and presence of the other.

Separating, you sat side by side as you told him what had occurred. Just like always, he spoke the perfect words, said in the perfect way and like usual, your heart swelled. It fell into rapid strides as your breath caught in your throat. Why was he always so perfect?

Neteyam looked down at you, eyes glimmering with the night and his bioluminescent freckles dancing on his skin. He looked at you with that smirk, the one that made your heart falter and your eyes widen and you just couldn't breathe. He had successful stolen all of you, from your unconditional love to undivided attention. You were his, even he wasn't yours. But you would take him, have him kneel before you with his heart in his hands, ready for you to take.

You were perceptive enough. You had seen his flushed cheeks at your compliments and caught his stare more often than deemed normal. Even if those weren't indications of his feelings, what would be the point of going through the torture of hiding your feelings? Why willingly force yourself to pretend there was nothing between you two, when there just might be everything?

You turned so you were face to face with Neteyam, a fierce determination burning in your eyes. Grabbing his hands and taking a deep breathe in, you spoke. You spoke words that would change the trajectory of your relationship entirely.

"By Eywa, I have met you and fallen for you. I want your heart to dance with mine. Neteyam, I see you." Saying those words gave you some relief but that was quickly smothered by fear when you heard no reply.

Forcing yourself to look up, you stared into Neteyam's gorgeous yellow eyes flecked with shades of green, an unreadable expression on his face. You cowered under his intense gaze. What was he thinking?

His hands suddenly left yours as they cupped your cheeks, a lovesick grin appearing. He ducked his head and lay his forehead against yours.

"I thank Eywa for the gift she has given me in the form of you. I see you."

"Can I kiss you, again?"

You broke out into a wide smile, a wave of happiness and excitement flooding you.

"You scared me for a second there. I thought you were going to reject me." You whispered, hands falling to his chest as your tried, failed to bite back a smile.

"Sorry, I was making sure it wasn't a joke. I guess I should make it up to you, for the scare?"

He grazed his finger against your lip, eyes meeting yours in question. You were more than happy to oblige.

With a fervent nod, your lips interlocked in a sweet, slow kiss. It was soft and gentle yet burning with a passion that took hold of your entire being. One of his hands reached behind your head and another at your thigh, massaging the flesh there. It was pure and complete bliss - perfect.

Separating from the kiss, you stared into his eyes, witnessing your future in them and wanting nothing more.

"As many times as you want."

How perfect.

---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---♡---

Heyy, I hope you enjoyed. I love Neteyam so much aaah. Any and all criticism is welcome :))

#avatar #avatar the way of water #avatar twow #neteyam #neteyam x reader #avatar 2 #writing #neteyam sully #loak #tsireya #jake sully

2K notes · View notes

neteyamyawne · 1 year ago

Text

🫀— Another Love

༄ Pairing : Lo'ak x Fem!Na'vi!Reader

༄ Summary : He slowly falls for another and all you can do is see him be happy with her like he was once with you.

༄ Warning : Jealousy, slight one-sided love, falling out of love, emptiness (emotional), sadness, confrontation.

༄ Prompts : Falling out of love.

༄ Word count : 1.2k, proof read.

༄ Note : This is me first time writing for lo'ak so idk much 🥹 I'm improving for him!

༄ Glossary : [Tiyawn] - Love, [Yawne] - beloved.

◦ Angstmas || Masterlist

You saw it, of course you did, anyone who wasn't lo'ak saw it loud and clear…

Your favorite leather armband? Gone, the river stone choker? Gone and nowhere to be found until you saw Tsireya wearing it. The inkling of downfall starting from the smallest of things.

The swimming lessons were always him and her paired up, at first it was you, the one who left her forever home for him to come here, to an unknown clan and living in between unknown people, just for his love… your love..

His eyes were unfocused as you say near the coast with him, though his hand rested on your thigh, his mind was elsewhere, lost in thought, it was like, he was your lo'ak anymore.

“Ma lo'ak… are you okay? You seem distracted” his eyes snapped back at your face, a sheepish smile forming in his face as he squeezed your thigh softly.

“Yeah, yeah I'm good, Tiyawn” he whispered before his eyes trailed back to the shallow waters, where Tsireya taught the metkayina children how to ride the ilus and for a moment you thought if he suggested to go for a walk on the beach for a certain reason.

She looked splendid, everything a female should look like, the small shell at the crown of her head, the neat braids that cascaded down her back in tight curls would easily make anyone fall in love with her and from the way she sat close to him, her hand on his chest during breathing practice and his breath would stutter at her touch Every. Single. Time.

The dots were connecting but you weren't ready to admit it, it was hard to accept the fact that the one you love the most was falling out of love with you “Lo'ak, what's going on?? I know you're hiding something… I know”

He was startled by your confrontation, a look of guilt spreading over his features, though he looked unsurprised by your question, which only meant one thing, he anticipated it.

“I- I… it's nothing, y/n forget about it, it's stupid” he looked away embarrassed, he didn't want to say it, who would when they knew it would break the heart of the person who left everything behind for them.

“It's Tsireya… isn't it?” Your words grabbed his attention so fast it almost snapped his neck, eyes wide in surprise and resentment… not for you though, for himself.

He shakes his head worried about how he would be able to explain about this complicated feeling but if he saw deep enough, the answer was right there… the ocean eyed, metkayina princess.

“Y/n, No, it's- it's not… i mean yeah but-” he was struggling to form words as his eyes darted between you and her as if he was watching a ping-pong match.

But your heart sank deeper with every second of his hesitation, a void yawning open in the middle of your chest as you clearly saw the love on his face but it wasn't for you, as much as it broke your heart, it wasn't for you.

He was miserably failing to explain his side but you saw the yearning in his eyes for her, a bittersweet smile graced your lips and your hands trembled, so you fisted them as you spoke the next words “Go to her, It's okay… Go to her”

The stunned silence on his face was enough for you to break down right then and there, you loved this man with your entire life and this is how it ends? You let go? But it'll only hurt more if you hold on, though…

“Sweetheart- what are you saying…? Go to her? Are you sure?” That's when the tear slid down your cheek and his frown covered his features, knowing that his truth was your end, but what hurt the most is that he asked ‘are you sure?’ he was ready to go, there was no point in holding back.

It felt like you were ripping your heart out of your chest and shredding it into ribbons with your own two hands as you simply hid your pain behind a smile and teary eyes and nodded “yes, Lo'ak, go to her… as you want, you can go to her… i guess your love wasn't as strong as you said it was”

The hesitation and guilt was written all over his face as he saw the tears in your eyes, the hurt in your voice, nothing but regret filled him as he never thought this day would come “I'm so sorry… So damn sorry” he held your hand tightly but there was no warmth in it, his words were like Ash in your mouth, they meant nothing to you now.

“Just go… leave, go away” your eyes averted back to Tsireya who was unaware of the conversation, anger simmered in your chest but it didn’t cover the hurt that caved your chest, the jealousy that raged in your mind but you hid it well.

Lo'ak frowned, the little braids that framed his face falling away from his eyes, getting up from his spot beside you… biting his lip nervously as he knew he fucked up big times “Yawne, I'm really sorry… I hope you understand… I'm-”

But you got up "stop it please! Just go away! I- I don't want to talk, please!" and left, not wanting to hear the reason why you failed to be the one for him, it was all a mistake, a mistake to leave your home for the person who you thought was your everything, a mistake that he would be your love forever, a mistake to ever think he'd never leave you for someone else.

His heart sank as she watched you walk away after the truth was out, he felt terrible, HORRIBLE, for breaking your heart after everything you did for him but he couldn't keep you leading into a ditch after he knew his feelings were lost for you and held onto another and with a defeated sigh he walked towards Tsireya, with a smile, as if nothing happened and he didn't just leave you, the person who left her whole life behind for him, for the girl he met a few months ago.

Even when you walked away from him, sobs leaving your lips silently, you couldn't help but stop and watch from behind a boulder with tears glistening your cheeks as the smile he once gave you shone brighter when he looked at her instead, the look he gave you once now almost glowed with love for her.

Were you not worth it? Did your sacrifice mean nothing to him? Was it that easy for him to forget you and move on? After you spent years loving him? The questions swirled in your mind but there were no answers to justify them as the person you saw your future with left you with just your thoughts in a clan where you don't know anyone and had to live with his family to top it off.

You were foolish to think that he would keep loving you… but were you? Is this what you deserved? To be left alone and broken in a place you don't know anyone, away from your home and family and betrayed by the person you trusted the most? No, but your heart still broke as you say the on golden shores of metkayina but nothing seemed so colorful as it was to you before this happened…

Ho Ho Ho : @cryinginthemoonpool, @luvv4j4ybe11, @xylianasblog, @plooto, @itchaboi-itchyboy, @pandoraslxna, @taylormarieee, @thewiltedpeony, @neteyamswillow, @danniackerman, @hotdsworld, @zafrinaxyz, @xstarsdiary, @moondaisye, @puddle-nerd, @eywxveng, @minnory, @neteyamssyulang, @tavsianus, @ele-sme.

• Let me know if you want to be tagged in the next two angstmas fics!

242 notes · View notes

marymary-diva17 · 5 months ago

Text

The dream walker of the sea (2)

The reunion with friends had made everyone happy, as they had been apart from each other for very long. The fear and worry of not seeing each other, was over but there had been some stuff that returned as well. The war was far from over as now a new fight had began and there is no giving up.

y/n " ......" you are standing on the beach holding your son in your arms.

neyio " fishes mama fishes'

y/n " yes baby look at all the fishes in the water swimming around"

neyio " IIu mama"

y/n " yes that an IIu maybe if we are lucky we can go on ride later on" neyio soon started laughing and clapping his hands making you, chuckle you had kissed his right check.

y/n " aww you are so adorable"

????? " y/n" you soon heard your name getting called as you soon turned around to see, jake and norm standing there as they made their way towards you. They had soon stopped when they soon reached you.

Jake " oh you have the kiddo with you again hey there kid"

neyio " ......" neyio stayed silent but he soon waved towards the two grown man.

norm " he very sweet"

y/n " yes he is"

Jake " so he inherited your DNA"

y/n " yes like with your kids there are high chances that the kids, will show our DNA in them then the other kids"

norm " still on your game I see"

y/n " always my friend I make sure my kids know this stuff as well, along with fighting as well since the return of enemies from the past dead people who are alive once again"

Jake " yeah I thought they will be gone forever but nope the rda brought them back alive, with using those stupid memory logs"

y/n " the rda love to play great creator but that never works in the end"

norm " maybe you can come with us to see the base we have here, but I don't think it will be safe for the little one to come"

y/n " you are right I would leave him to my mates but they are no where near by ...."

tsireya " hey mama" tsireya had soon come walking and she was soon joined by her sibling, sully kids, and spider.

y/n " hello children"

Jake ' hey kids what are you all going'

neteyam " hangout in the water aonung and his siblings offer to take us for a lesson"

y/n " that nice of you kids but can you all do me favor

aonung " yes mama'

y/n " can you all keep an eye on neyio I need to have a meeting with Jake and norm, at the humans homes it will not be good to take him"

aonung " yes we can take him mama come here little brother" aonung soon took his baby brother who had become happy, to spend time with the bigger kids.

neteyam " we will all make sure no harm comes to him y/n"

y/n " thank you all" you had soon walked away with Jake and norm heading toward, where the humans are staying since their arrival yesterday.

max " y/n"

y/n " hey max"

max " I'm so happy to see you again we thought we lost your for good, after all those years"

y/n " yes I thought I will not be able to see you all again, I want to go back but it havent become safe since their return"

Scientist " well we are happy you are back here with us and we heard, you have mates and kids as well"

y/n " yes I do I had become mates with tonowari the olo'eythan here and the tshaik ronal we have four beautiful children"

Scientist 2 " that wonderful norm told us one of the kids had inherited DNA from you"

y/n " yes he did I will show you all my kids later on if they come by for a visit"

norm " oh they will come by knowing our kids they will be here later on" laughter had been heard as it seem to be something agreed upon by everyone.

Jake " so the metkayain already know the rda"

y/n " yes it seems like the rda was doing their own thing here, but when they left it felt like peace had come until now"

Jake " yes but will they be willing to help us fight against the rda'

y/n " yes they will be willing to help fight against the rda as they are, destroy our homes and hunting the creates we love here in the name of greed"

norm " greedy is always the root of all this chaos"

y/n " the rda will not stop until they clam this place as their new home, and get rid of anyone that stops them from doing that"

max " yes but they will be greedy once again"

y/n " that is very true but we will never give up the fight no matter what happens"

Scientist 3 " it good to have you back y/n we missed you girl"

y/n " I missed you all as well"

????? " this is where the humans will be living"

????? ' oh they have some of the same techniques and weapon mama has, at home but some of them seem different"

????? " shinny"

????" no touching neyio"

???? " there might be something around here we can hold and touch, that will not be harmful"

lo'ak " oh hello" the adults soon saw the children arrive in eye shot of them, all of the kids looking at them.

Neyio " mama mama" you smile as you went to get neyio from rotox arms who was now holding him.

rotxo " he has been well behaved mama no fits about anything, he even did well when swimming"

lo'ak " he even showed all of us up as well when swimming on his won and ridding an IIu"

y/n " oh did you that is so good"

max " hello kids"

tsireya " hello are you all friend of our mama"

y/n " yes they are and I did work with them as well"

aonung " wow"

neteyam " it fine we brought them here we wanted to show them, more of the humans as they know some from y/n"

max " it okay did just staye safe all of you and be careful, when handle any of the weapons or tools"

kids " yes sir"

aonung " can we looks around more mama"

y/n " yes but remember max words my kids" the older kids had taken off leaving you with neyio, as he was pointing at everything he could see. Wishing for anyone to explain what had caught his attention, he easily had won everyone over.

Later on that day

max " so they call you the dream walker of the sea"

y/n " yes they do they knew about the dreamwalker but haven't seen one until me, I made a good impression on them"

norm " yes it those if you had become ronal and tonowari mate, after all this time"

y/n " I have a good life with them and type of life I fear I wouldn't have with them" Neyio is doing his best to walk around but having times, when he will fall over.

Jake " you will get it buddy"

y/n " when he does learn to walk there will be not stopping him"

max " you are a good mom y/n he will be amazing and adventurous like his mom"

neyio " baba baba" someone had came walking over to the human base, that navi was no other then tonowari. he saw his son and smiled soon picking the boy up.

tonowari " hello my son now where is your mother and siblings, as no one was home when I arrived"

neyio " mama"

y/n " I'm here hello my husband welcome home"

tonowari " my wife so it seems like your human friends have settled in well"

y/n " yes and thank you once again for letting them come"

tonowari " they seeked help and we said yes"

y/n " this is max one of my many friends and the rest are my friends as well, when I was living in the forest"

tonowari " hello"

max " hello"

tonowari " I hope you and your friends can do good work here, and maybe erase all the trouble the rda has caused"

max " we will do our best olo'eythan"

tonowari " I will be look forward to it"

y/n " where is ronal"

tonowari " she will be home tomorrow as her and mo'at are speaking with another tshaik, near some spiritual grounds"

y/n " I understand"

tsireya " baba welcome home"

aonung " baba we saw so many amazing things today"

tonowari " that amazing my children"

rotxo " we got to understand more of the humans stuff as well"

tonowari " it good you are learning about your mother world, as it your world as well"

y/n " you are right my husband" it seems like everyone had rest assured when they were with tonowari seeing as friendly, but they were all wondering what ronal will be like in person verse words.

46 notes · View notes

bird-in-the-space · 1 month ago

Text

Echoes of the Unknown

Your summer camp experience came with a rough start. You already considered ending it all. But then, things go wrong, when you decide to investigate the strange sounds in the mountains and you end up falling into the abyss. You find something you were likely never supposed to find.

Warnings: mentions of rude kids, uncertainty about the future, some teasing, falling, broken feet, bruises, losing your breath, and losing consciousness.

Chapter 2

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

It's only been a day and a half but you were already feeling drained and like you wanted to throw yourself off the cliff. You tried to keep up a bright mind and avoid brooding like Emily said, but after an activity that included helping first-year campers in arts and crafts and getting glue and stuff thrown at your face for the fifth time, you wanted to end it all. Modern social media and TikTok have created real monsters. These kids are supposed to be ten or eleven, yet they are cursing worse than sailors and crafting questionable things.

Luckily, Mr. Robin had mercy on you. He allowed you and the other members of your group to take a break and go on a short hike near the mountains. You somewhat liked it since it allowed you to calm your mind.

The forest was green with life. You saw squirrels, rabbits, and even a few deer on the hike path. It was calming and eventually, you reached the cliffs that led to the mountains.

“You seem more calm now,” Emily stated.

“I am…” you uttered.

“Who knew, (Name), is not a child person,” Amanda teased.

“Well, you weren’t the one who got unruly media monsters for you to help” you snarked at her.

“Children just like me more…” she said, making you roll your eyes at her.

“So, what kind of plans have you all planned after this?” she asked. “I’m gonna go abroad. I found a pleasant college in Europe,” she said.

“Lucky you!” one of your group members said.

“I’m gonna go to Stanford!”

“I’m gonna take a long family trip with my family,”

“I think I’m gonna start working,”

“I’m still looking through my options. I want to be a photographer, so I’m still deciding if I want to go to college or start working on that,” Emily answered.

“What about you, (Name)?” Amanda asked when you didn’t tell yours.

You looked at them and saw them all look at you, waiting for your answer.

“I… I’m still deciding. I don’t know what I want to do,” You answered, looking at the ground.

“I’m sure you will find what you like eventually,” Emily nudged you with a smile.

A loud bang echoed through the mountains and you felt the earth shaking beneath you.

“Wow, did you all hear that?” Emily questioned.

“That sounded way more close than before,” Amanda said. “How close are those roadmakers here?” she questioned.

You all looked toward the caves that led inside to the mountains. You felt rather spooked when you looked into that darkness.

“Are they even roadmakers? That sounded more like an explosion” One of your group asked a good question.

“Huh? Maybe the mines have been opened again,” Emily said thoughtfully.

“But let’s get back. Our break is going to be over soon and Mr. Robin needs us to aid the first years with the swimming lessons,” she said and you all agreed, leaving the hike.

You looked toward the mountains when you heard the sound again. You do not know why but you felt odd by those sounds.

The day was quick. The night came and you lounged in your camp house with Emily after having dinner. You would have tried to find sleep, but it did not come easy tonight, so you tried to spend time reading one of Emily’s books. You weren’t the biggest bookworm, but Emily knew how to pick good books.

The moment was quiet between you, but since you two were reading and simply enjoying each other’s presence— it was enough for you.

“You know…. I have been thinking what you could do after this?” Emily broke the silence.

“What you had in mind?” You looked at her curiously.

“You are talented in the arts. Why don’t you try art school?” she asked.

“My mom said I needed a real profession,” you answered. “And I haven’t drawn much for a long time. I think my skills have become severely rusted,”

“Then—” Emily thought to herself for a moment. “Then how about anything related to crafting or mechanics? You liked to do woodwork with your dad and you were really good at building those scientific things in computer classes,” she suggested.

“Maybe… but those no longer interest me much,” you said.

“Well, there has to be something. How about you try something completely new? You are a fast learner when you put your mind into something,” she said.

“Maybe… but what?” you questioned, staring at the ceiling.

“I’m sure it comes around. I can throw in some suggestions,” she said.

“Thanks… but I think I will be worrying about getting myself a place to live and learning how to be independent after this. Then I might find a career. I don’t want to throw myself into a career that is big but has no interest in me,” you explained.

“Don’t think about it too much. We have two whole months to think about it together. And I meant what I said about you coming to live with me,” Emily said.

You smiled in return. “I know I know… But I want to try to figure something out,”

“Attagirl,” Emily smiled again.

You then glanced through the window and noticed something strange. Amanda and some of her friends were outside their camp house, wearing jackets and flashlights. They seemed to be talking to each other before walking toward the woods.

“Hey, is that Amanda?” you frowned.

Emily looked over your shoulder and saw the people outside.

“Yeah. What is she doing?” Emily asked when Amanda and her friends seemed to leave for the hike paths.

You two decided to step outside. You opened the door and Emily shouted over your shoulder at the leaving group.

“Hey! Where are you guys going?” Emily asked. Amanda and her friends stopped to look at you.

“We’re gonna go check if we can see the miners in the mountains through the caves,” Amanda replied.

“Isn’t that dangerous? Everyone in these camps has told us that those caves are unstable?” you frowned.

“You are welcome to join us to make sure we will be safe. Come on, we won’t be waiting for you,” she said as she and her friends left for the hike trail.

“Fucking hell— is she looking for a death wish?” you asked.

“Well, there’s no point in pondering about it. Let’s go,” Emily grabbed her jacket.

“You can’t be serious?” you frowned at her.

“Amanda is difficult to convince, and we will be in trouble if something happens to her and we were the last ones to talk with her,” she said, handing you your jacket.

“So, let’s go. I’m sure we will be fine,” she stepped out.

You whined, taking your jacket and following after her.

You two quickly caught up with Amanda and her friends. The night was chilly despite the summer heat, so you were glad to have taken your jacket. You all then arrived at the mountains and stood before the cave entrance. You nearly shuddered as the darkness in the cave looked even more menacing at night.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? Do you even know where this cave leads to?” You asked Amanda.

“Only one way to find out,” She said, stepping forward.

“I don’t think we all should go inside. What if something happens and we need help?” you questioned.

“Don’t be a wuss. What bad things could happen?” she crossed her arms. “We just take a quick look and go. Simple as that,”

“(Name)’s right thought. Maybe we should leave someone behind. Just to be sure. Maybe just three of us should go?” Emily backed you up.

“Fine…” Amanda groaned, then looked toward her friends.

“Stay here, me, Emi, and (Name) will go. Call for help if something happens,” she said and you three then entered the cave.

Amanda used her flashlight to show the way forward. You and Emily used the lights on your phone to look around the walls and corners. Shivers ran down your spine. The cave leads to a larger cavern, making it look more intimidating. Large spikes were hanging from the ceiling and over the edge, you could see a dark abyss look back at you. Your mind wondered what was at the bottom, and it came up with spikes and nonexistent monsters that only waited for something to fall into their sharpened mouths.

You three walked a mile into the cave. The entrance was still in sight but provided little light. You tried to hear anything related to the miners or roadmakers, but there was nothing. However, for a moment, you thought you heard sounds you could only describe as drilling.

“Ah! A dead end!” Amanda stopped and you saw the cavern floor end to another edge. You looked around but saw nothing that would allow you three to go deeper. You were honestly relieved by this.

“I was hoping we could go deeper and see if we could find the workers,”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do. I can’t see anything from here,” Emily looked over the edge.

“Well, that’s too bad. Can we go now? This place is giving me the creeps,” you asked as you really wanted to go back.

A loud boom was heard across the cavern, causing the cave around you to shake. You lost your balance but when you saw Emily about to fall over the edge, you grabbed her, throwing her back and falling over the edge instead.

“(Name)!” Emily shrieked in terror when she saw you fall.

You screamed as you fell into the abyss below.

Your fall was quick. For a moment, you managed to land and slide against the cavern wall before falling a harsh mile and landing on your feet. A loud crunch was heard from your feet and you yelled in pain, withering against the cavern floor. Burning tears forced themselves out of your eyes and you started sobbing. Your ears barely heard Emily’s and Amanda’s yells from above as they tried to call out to you. It took you many long minutes to calm down and endure the pain from your foot.

You grabbed your phone. The screen was cracked from the fall but your phone was luckily not completely broken. You used the light to help you sit and look at your injured foot. It was motionlessly lying against the ground and you could feel the pain in your very bone, so it did not take much for you to guess that your foot was broken.

“(Name)!” you heard Emily’s voice in the distance.

You looked up but only saw darkness. You must have fallen quite far if you were not able to see the cave entrance or Emily.

“(Name)! Please answer me!” you heard her yell.

“I’m here!” You yelled, even though you were in a lot of pain right now.

“(Name)! Are you hurt?!” she yelled.

“Yeah! My foot!” You groaned. “It broke from the fall!”

“Okay! (Name)! Hold on! We’re gonna go get help!” Amanda yelled. “Stay where you are!”

You heard them run and yell to their friends outside. It then became quiet and you figured they must have returned to the camp to find help.

You leaned against the cavern wall, breathing and moaning from the pain. In all your life, you never experienced pain like this. You had experienced sprained ankles and muscles, but never a broken bone. You had always been careful to avoid seriously injuring yourself.

You checked your phone. Luckily it had a lot of battery, so you did not need to worry about it running out and losing your only source of light.

Five minutes run by. It was still a bit early to think if Emily and Amanda abandoned you to die even though your mind was entertaining the thought. You trusted Emily to alert Mr. Robin and the other camp chancellors. She was your friend. Even though Amanda was someone you weren’t overly fond of, you knew she would get help too despite the troubles it would bring her and her friends. They were good people deep down.

Your eyes suddenly noticed an odd blue glow in the darkness. You showed your lights and saw cracks that led somewhere. Your ears then caught the strange sound of drilling again.

You felt hopeful. If there was drilling, then that meant there were people. If you could find the miners, perhaps they would help you out of the mountain faster.

With a pained groan, you slowly picked yourself off the ground. Standing up, you tested your foot and felt a sharp pain when you put weight on it. You held it up. There was no use in trying to put any weight on it. Your foot had become numb, making it somewhat tolerable but for the best, you just needed to hop.

You knew Emily and Amanda told you to stay put, but this could be a good chance to get out than wait in the ominous darkness.

Carefully, you hopped toward the crack, using your phone’s light. You carefully limbed through the cracks, finding tunnels and more caves.

The sound of drilling became louder and you saw the blue glow again. The blue glow became brighter from another crack. You hopped over to it and slid through the crack.

After you pushed yourself through the crack, you were amazed when you saw what seemed to be blue crystals in the shape of cubes. They were bigger than you and stacked nicely against each other and on top of each other. However, they did not look like sapphires as they were way too blue and glowing.

You took a picture and tried to use the Google search to figure them out. It only gave answers to sapphires and gems that looked nothing like them, making you confused. Was this some kind of new undiscovered crystal?

However, one important question was, why were they so big?

The sound of drilling became louder and it nearly made you wince from the loudness. However, you felt hopeful since it meant you were near.

You saw an opening to another cave where you saw light and hopped between the giant cubes. However, instead of miners or roadmakers, you found something completely different.

After you came to the opening, you hid when you saw what seemed to be giant robots. You stared in shock at the robots. They were maybe fifteen feet tall, or bigger. They had no faces and had this odd symbol in their chests. Some of them were mining for the blue crystals while some of them seemed to be on guard for something.

You managed to control your shock and tried to avoid getting noticed. Whatever they were, they were not humans. You are not even sure if they were made by humans.

Your mind came back to the story about the missing miners and the giant metal beings. That rescuer might have not been insane after all.

You quietly took out your phone. Putting it on silence and turning off the lighting, you then started to record the robots and their mining operation. You need to show this to Emily and the others or they will never believe you.

You captured thirty seconds of footage. You ended the recording and hid when you noticed one of the guards coming. The ground shook beneath your feet from the robot’s footsteps and you could not help but shudder as the robot looked even more menacing from up close. Your heart was painfully pounding against your chest as you watched them leave.

You then decided you had seen enough and tried to find your way back to the cave you came from. Emily and the others should have already called for help. Limping painfully toward the crack in the cave. You were nearly there and ready to slide yourself through, but then you saw the guard looking at you.

“Shit, shit, shit!” you cursed as the guard walked toward you.

You managed to slip through the crack to the cave behind. However, there was another way and the purple robot followed you. It tried to grab you with its claws but you managed to throw yourself out of the way. However, now you are trapped.

It pointed its arm blaster toward you.

“No! No! No! Please!” You begged for your life.

The cavern suddenly shook. You heard what you could describe as blaster fire from the other part of the cavern and wondered if they were fighting something. A wall in your part of the cave suddenly crumbled and a metalling thing fell out of it.

You both stared at it as it activated, aiming two lights at you and the robot. You were then hit by some kind of blast. A blue light formed between you and the purple robot. You began to feel faint and lost your ability to breathe as something was happening in your mind. It felt like your mind was detaching itself from your body. You shrieked when you suddenly lost your consciousness and everything became dark.

#transformers x reader #transformers prime x reader #tfp x reader #transformers prime #tfp #x cybertronian reader #echoes of the unknown #various x reader #oc x reader

29 notes · View notes

whinlatter · 11 months ago

Note

Hello!! First of all I wanted to say I’m obsessed with your writing ❤️ Your hinny feels so real and nuanced, and I really appreciate how well you address their trauma and struggles they might have in their relationship while also showing their deep love for each other. Because of this, I would LOVE to hear any thoughts you have on what Harry and Ginny would be like as parents, such as what their biggest challenges would be/how they'd get through it, etc (and if you have hcs about the kids that would be the icing on the cake 😁)

you are a true angel for this! although i do (of course, always) have takes on harry and ginny as parents, i'm going to save them for another day while i still have other writing bits to do. BUT what i do have is a WIP fragment of a dad!harry and james scene that i originally wrote for the orchards sequel and that i'll probably never do anything with but that i sort of like anyway, because james is my favourite potter child for no reason other than i love the idea of harry potter and ginny weasley having accidentally given birth to someone easygoing/ronald weasley 2.0. i really hope you enjoy!

In the kitchen, four o’clock, sunny day, warm. He takes the potatoes out of the oven, gives them a good shake in the tray.

‘It’s nice, our house.’

When he looks up, James is at the kitchen island, going to town on an enormous bag of crisps. It’s a source of professional anxiety how easy it is for his children to sneak up on him. ‘Glad you think so,’ he says to James, as he puts the potatoes back in the oven. ‘You’ve only lived in it your whole life.’

‘Yeah, but I never really thought about it before.’ Big bite, raspy crunch. When he turns back, James is looking out of the kitchen window, peering into the garden, like it's his first time seeing it. ‘When you’re little, you just think it’s your house, don’t you. You don’t think, hey, this house is nice. You just think, this is our house.’

‘I suppose not. Don't fill up on crisps, you'll not want dinner.'

His son scoffs at that - as well he might, the appetite on him these days. Gin says it's a Weasley birthright. With another munch, James starts examining the ceiling beams. 'I like it,' he says decisively. ‘It’s a good house. Big, loads of light. Homely. Good garden, plenty of bedrooms. Gets sunshine from all sides. Not far from Granny and Grandpa Weasley’s. Near the sea.’

‘Is this you telling me you’re considering a career as an estate agent?’

‘Nope. Just saying.’ James considers his next crisp clutched between his forefinger and thumb. ‘Reckon I’ll raise my kids here, too. Leave it to me in the will, won’t you?’

‘Not sure about that one. What about Al and Lil?’

Dismissive wave of a hand. ‘Easy. I’ll pay them off. There’ve got to be some perks to being the eldest son. First-come, first-served, that’s the rule.’

'And Teddy?'

'Easier still. He still owes me for running over my foot in that driving lesson. I've been limping whenever I see him, laying the groundwork.'

He looks at James, black birdnest of hair, bright brown eyes, scrum of freckles. He’s got quaffle blisters on the base of his palms.

‘You’re doing it again.’

‘What thing?’

‘What thing, he says. Staring at me. That sentimental thing you do.'

‘I don’t do a sentimental thing.’

‘Yeah, you do. Al and I take bets on how many times you'll do it at family events. Your eyes get that spaced-out look. You’re about to tell me you love me, aren’t you?’

‘I do love you.’

'Yeah, yeah.' Eye-roll from James, though he's grinning. Tosses the crisp packet in the bin with a Chaser's precision. They take love in their stride, his children: receiving it, giving it out in spades. 'Listen,' he says, 'about those roast potatoes - very important - '

‘Crispy. I’m on it.’

'Good man,' says his son, and heads for the door. 'Back in a bit. I'm going to go map out where I'm going to put my swimming pool.'

#writing #next gen #i don't know what this is but i hope you like it anon #just a dad roasting some potatoes for his hungry son #and the hungry son roasting him right back #that's parenting folks!#dad!harry has my heart #james sirius potter #potter family #ginny weasley #hinny #if you squint #microfic

103 notes · View notes

dapandapod · 11 months ago

Note

Concept:

Geralt works in an aquarium, near the biggest fish tank.

Jaskier is a newly hired mermaid performer

Geralt was not told about this

In my dreams, it's still Mermay 2023. Husshhh time is fake. ANYWAY here it is! Thank you @magdelanesingerin helping me beta read <3 and thank you Ella-la for the prompt! It was a lot of fun! Please enjoy <3 On Ao3 here

Technically, Geralt does not work with humans. As in, he’s not there to provide care to humans.

Most of his coworkers are human, yes, but that is not the point. He did not start working here to serve people stale sandwiches and sparkling water.

Geralt knows every inch of the aquarium, knows every work position available.

He knows how to do everything, despite actually being there for the more excotic species of aquatic animals, usually with many teeth. Pros and Cons of working with the family, he supposes.

The years he has spent out in the field and all the late nights he worked with his doctor's thesis, all the scars from times he spent crawling through knee deep water that stank of sulfur and decay, only to find his arm swallowed to the elbow by something very small with big hubris-- all of that is put to perfect use as he wraps yet another dry, overpriced sandwich, or scoops yet another ice cream.

The reason he actually stays, despite the screaming children and the sweating parents and the bored teenagers and the entitled grandparents and the weird work tasks he gets assigned, is the way a young girl's face lights up when Geralt holds up a frog, big enough for him to have to use both hands.

Or the way the sullen teen beams when one of their rare giant butterflies lands on their hands. Or when he can hold an audience captive while showing them something new and exciting and incredibly nerdy about his sharks.

Geralt loves his sharks.

Due to every summer reason ever, Geralt has sadly been called away from his animal related daytime tasks to cover shifts where their usual summer employees are out sick. Which seems to be most of this month.

Where he stands right now, in the very small and very understaffed little kiosk, he has an excellent view of the shark tank, at least. As the aquarium has grown in popularity, so has their shark tank, his pride and joy.

Coën had explained to him excitedly that their new tank would have a much bigger viewing area, and seating area, almost like a little theater. To allow for future opportunities, he had said, and Geralt thought of the way he would be allowed to show off his beauties through the window and almost got excited himself.

It is unusually crowded today, and a lot of people are gathering around the viewing area and are chattering.

It's so loud, their voices bouncing around the room and amplifying, and it's hard to hear the woman in front of him inexplicably order their largest latte and a lactose free cheese sandwich.

Luckily, Milva is coming in soon to cover the rest of the shift, so Geralt can finally get back behind the tanks, out of sight of all the people.

But before he can, the clock strikes one, music blares through the speakers the speakers, and one of the employees he knows from birthday parties steps out with a microphone. It makes Geralt frown, because this is new.

Usually, the show around the big tank would involve a kid friendly lesson about the fish and aquatic animals in their tank, sometimes accompanied by a sweaty Lambert in a mascot suit.

This time, however, there is dreamy music, the lights are lowered even more, and the employee is talking about the magical beings living in the deep, out of sight of human eyes.

See, Geralt is a man of science.

He knows there are mythical and magical things in the depths, having been up close and personal with a few. But this sounds like they are setting up for some kind of misinformed children’s movie.

Which is why Geralt's jaw is somewhere around floor level, when an actual mermaid- wait no, merman, swims up to the glass, waving at the children.

Milva has to elbow him out of the way so she can serve the next customer, while Geralt stares at the Merman flitting around in his beloved shark tank.

The sharks stay clear, because even if the merman's tail is beautiful, it is still striped much like a dragon fish, warning all of them not only with his size, but also with his pattern and coloring, that he is dangerous.

Yet his smile is wide, his claws retracted to tap a smooth fingertip at the glass and wave at the crowd with a webbed hand.

His hair is chestnut brown, matching the pattern riding up along his back, with specks of gold dancing on his skin and in his blue, very blue eyes.

Geralt somehow finds himself by the rail to the seating area, and the merman's eyes lock with his.

As they do, they widen a fraction, and the smile turns into a smirk. The merman winks, and turns, swimming in a pirouetting circle as the employee narrates his movements.

As he swims, the light dances over muscle and bone and scale, the crowd around him making ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaah’ noises. He is beautiful.

The merman keeps showing off, his many long fins twirling around him like ribbons in the calm water. It is mesmerizing, and as the show is coming to a close, Geralt hurries to the back area and towards the tank.

He gets intercepted by Lambert, of course, who steps in front of him with a shit eating grin spread wide across his smug face.

"Like the new show, did you, pretty boy?" Lambert says, sly eyes watching him.

"I didn't realize we had a new show." Geralt grumbles. "I need to-"

"-Go and ask our new pretty fish boy intrusive questions, yes I know. Just remember he is not a science project."

With a pat on Geralt's shoulder, Lambert walks past him and intothe guest area.

"Oh, and ask him for his number. Literally everybody in the room saw that wink," he throws over his shoulder as he goes.

Geralt feels his ears burn as he moves forward again, because yeah, that wink felt very... yeah. Words fail him, which is a bit unfortunate, seeing as he is just arriving at the stairs to the tank.

Climbing them, he tries to remember what he planned to do in the first place, other than, as Lambert called it, 'ask intrusive questions'.

As he reaches the top of the stairs, the merman is just climbing out of the tank, assisted by Eskel. Once again, Geralt feels his jaw drop, noticing that his tail is now legs.

Long legs. Bare legs, that goes up, up, and lucky for all of them, the rest of the view is quickly hidden by a towel wrapped around a slim waist.

"Figures," he hears Eskel snort, "Jaskier, this is Geralt, our aquatic expert."

They are on separate ends of the room, the tank between them, but the world narrows down to just the two of them.

There is, and always has been, a specific mood to the rooms that houses the the big tanks.

The way the water reflects light, sending it dancing on the walls and ceiling, how it softens shadows, how it can be dark but bright at the same time; Geralt has always did found it a little romantic.

Which isn't something he would ever confess to unless he was swimming in alcohol, or so sleep deprived he didn’tt even know his own name, but it is there, simmering in the back of his mind.

Especially now as he is standing there in the soft, romantic light with a man, who was just a merman, looking back at him as if he has discovered the world anew. He can even pretend that the humming of pumps and gurgling of water filters and dripping of pipes are an orchestra, a symphony to accompany a first meeting.

Alright, that is overdoing it, but still.

Behind Jaskier, Eskel is rolling his eyes so hard his body moves with it.

"Every. Frickin. Time. Jaskier, good job, don't forget to wash off before you get dressed. Let's talk after... after. Later. I do not want to be here right now."

Eskel leaves, patting Jaskier's shoulder, who only nods and waves absently, eyes still fixed at Geralt.

When Eskel is gone, disappearing through another door leading to more, smaller tanks and the food prep area, Geralt finally finds he can move.

It is oddly silent, except for the metallic sound of his shoes hitting the maze of walkways hanging above the tank. He stops, even before he has turned the corner to the final stretch.

"Hi," he manages after a few seconds too long.

The corner of Jaskier's mouth tugs up into a smile, and he reaches for another towel hanging on a hook on the wall.

"Hi," he echoes, his voice just a little raspy. Jaskier wraps the towel around his shoulders, using a corner to dry his hair. "So, you are the Geralt that I have heard so much about."

Geralt blinks. He did not expect people to have mentioned him, but then again, they might actually have warned Jaskier of him.

"Ah. Sorry. I can be uh... less than tactful when something grabs my interest."

Jaskier tilts his head even more and takes a step closer to him.

"So did I? Grab your interest, I mean."

Shit. Fuck. Shit fuck shit.

"I have never met a merman before." Geralt says stiffly, ears burning something fierce, and Jaskier looks amused.

Jaskier steps closer; his feet probably hurt from walking barefoot on the metal grating of the walkway but he doesn't stop until he is close enough to Geralt to stretch out his hand.

"Well then. My name is Jaskier, as you might have gathered. Nice to meet you! Though, I am not full mer, actually."

Interesting.

Geralt shakes his hand, noticing the tips of Jaskier’s fingers are a little rough against the back of his hand.

"Is that why you have... uh..."

"Legs?" Jaskier supplies helpfully. Geralt is still shaking his hand. "In part, yes. Some Mer have a splash of elven blood, granting them the ability to choose."

Geralt should stop shaking his hand. He really should. Their eyes are still locked, and Jaskier is still giving him that amused smile.

"You can stop shaking my hand now," he reminds Geralt, but doesn’t pull his hand back.

"Right. Yes. Right. Sorry." Geralt manages to let go, and is infinitely happy Eskel has left the room, though no doubt Lambert will look at the security footage for later. Shit.

As soon as Geralt manages to break the stare into the man’s eyes, he notices the next problem. Jaskier is pretty much naked, barely covered by the towels, revealing skin, chest hair, and the hint of a tattoo along his ribs and on one thigh.

He wants to ask about that, if it transfers to his fins or not. But as he stares, he also realizes Jaskier is shivering slightly. He's an idiot.

"I uh. Should leave you to get dressed. There is a shower in the changing rooms. Uhm. Can I get you a coffee or something? Later?"

Jaskier smiles that amused smile of his while Geralt is kicking himself internally. Words never were his thing, no, but this is ridiculous.

"As in bring me a coffee, or drink a coffee together with me?"

"Whichever you are comfortable with. Sorry, I am not making a good impression here."

"You are very cute, if that helps." Jaskier says, and Geralt blinks, stunned.

When he fails to reply, Jaskier pulls his towel tighter around himself, and nods.

"Right. So, I'll go shower, and we’ll pretend I never said that. And I'll see you later. For coffee."

Jaskier’s ears are slightly red, and Geralt wants to pretend it’s from their conversation, not from being cold.

Geralt nods, and flees before he can put his foot in his mouth any further, and only after he is half way down the stairs does he realize that he forgot to ask if Eskel showed Jaskier where the changing rooms are.

Too late now, he absolutely won’t go back and risk walking in on a very naked Jaskier. Nope.

When Geralt steps into the public area again, the crowds are slowly thinning out, now that the show is over.

Parents are herding kids towards bathrooms and other viewing areas, and Geralt decides that he needs to find something just a little better than the staff room coffee machine.

It feels a little cheap to go with the aquarium café, and he realizes he doesn't even know how Jaskier likes his coffee. Geralt himself has a sweet tooth, and very few ever believe that at first sight.

He decides to stand and awkwardly waits until Jaskier comes back out.

He manages to work himself up as he waits, overthinking until he’s standing there frowning and glaring at the wall when Jaskier emerges at last.

Quirking an eyebrow, Jaskier hoists his dufflebag a bit higher on his shoulder.

"You good?"

"Hmm. What kind of coffee do you like?" Geralt asks, before he can say something dumb.

"Black as tar, so anything is good." Jaskier smiles. See? You never know what to expect, even with sunshine incarnated.

Geralt nods, and leads the way to the little kiosk where he was working just a few, life-changing minutes before. .

Milva smiles gleefully at Geralt when it's their turn, and hands them a coffee black as tar, and for Geralt, coffee with milk and three sugar cubes.

Instead of sitting down, they put away Jaskier's bag and wander around the aquarium. It turns out he never had the chance to look around before diving in for his first show.

Geralt tries to not ask all the intrusive questions bubbling up in his head, his scientific curiosity temporarily pushed down by the way Jaskier coos at tiny crabs and little fishes in weird shapes and colors.

At last, Jaskier informs him that he can't stay any longer, that he has band practice after his show, and should have gone already.

"But I'll see you again, Geralt," Jaskier promises with a smile. "Next week. Unless you want to grab a bite sometime?"

Jaskier's ears are red again, and Geralt can feel his own face getting warm.

"I'd like that," he mumble, and Jaskier beams. They exchange numbers, just in case Geralt had anything else to ask.

Not one minute after Jaskier leaves, waving over his shoulder, Lambert is on him.

"Getting some tail, are you, pretty boy?" Lambert grins, and Geralt elbows him away.

"If you say anything ever again, I'll show Aiden all your drunk texts," he threatens, which he knows will only work for a few days.

Geralt risks sending a text that same night, and Jaskier replies only a few minutes after.

They have a lunch scheduled in a few days, and Geralt doesn't dare call it a date, not yet, no matter what Eskel says.

When Geralt goes to sleep later that night, he dreams of blue eyes, of chestnut brown and gold specks glimmering in the underwater light.

#geraskier #the witcher #geralt x jaskier #mermay 2023 #marine biologist geralt #part mer jaskier #geralt of rivia #jaskier the bard #meet cute #fluff #geralt gets a surprise #dapanda writes

95 notes · View notes

soshadysoquiet · 7 months ago

Text

TUA fanfic WIP: Sibling Beach Trip

I've recently devoured @assaily 's WIP posts and you know what, why hoard all of my WIPs when I may never finish them and people might enjoy them?

Having said that this isn't a snippet so much as it's a 2 thirds done fic that I've lost inspiration for the ending for so grab yourself a drink and enjoy!

Working Title: Beach No Beach. Love a working title

Length: 6k. Self control? Who is she?

Premise: Post apocalypse a family beach trip is proposed. Five has his reservations and is finding real life hard to adjust to, but he'll go if that's the Sibling Movement of the week. This is basically a slice of life fic that I'm pretty sure was going to build to Diego needing to save Five from drowning at the beach, because of course it was, but I think the rest of this has enough low-level angst and family moments to be entertaining on it's own.

Warnings: This fic discusses body dysmorphia in small detail and has underage drinking from Five.

It was embarrassing. More than embarrassing, really.

Shameful.

But Five couldn’t swim.

They’d had what constituted as ‘lessons’ when they were kids, apparently. Five had very limited memories of life before the Apocalypse, and often they seemed more surreal than anything.

‘We did?’ He asked blankly, barely looking over his morning cup of coffee to Viktor and Klaus.

‘All the time bro!’ Klaus replied breathily, laughing, eyes just a little wide in the thrill of memory, or possibly at Five not remembering something. ‘You don’t remember the pool? I’m pretty sure Dad blocked off the door after we started sneaking down there to play.’

‘I remember.’ Viktor nodded along, smile curling his lips so that his face lit up. ‘That’s how we found about Diego-‘

‘And his creepy fish power!’ Klaus looked ready to implode with hysteria and even Viktor bent to the table with a snort before looking between them.

‘You really don’t remember that?’

‘Diego isn’t a fish…’ He spoke slowly. He was talking to children after all. Or maybe he was hallucinating again. It happened. Hiding his grimace, Five took a sip.

‘Yeah! Yeah he can really hold his breath, come on you have to remember that, we teased him for weeks!’

‘Yeah that was kinda mean of us.’ Viktor grimaced a little into his own coffee. Probably for no reason, Viktor at that age wouldn’t have said Boo to a goose.

Hold his breath? It almost was a memory. Someone laughing, Diego pouting, then throwing a fit.

‘I think I’d remember us finding out about that.’

‘Maybe you blocked it out, it was pretty horrible at the time.’ The tone shifted after Viktor’s words.

‘Why doesn’t that surprise me.’

‘What doesn’t surprise you?’ Diego.

‘Speak of the devil!’ Klaus chorused, Five flinched a little at Diego’s hand falling briefly onto his shoulder as he passed. But it was barely noticeable now, he’d almost got a hang on it. ‘We were reminiscing about the time Dear old Dad decided to test out our underwater endurance.’

‘You mean when he held us all under the water until you all near passed out and I beat all your asses.’

‘Definitely would have remembered that one.’ Five murmured, covering up the chill skipping over his flesh.

‘Technically you didn’t beat my ass, since I wasn’t included in How to Drown Your Kids 101.’ Viktor replied with a darkly amused smirk and the sort of steel satisfaction that only true trauma inspired.

‘Well I’d have beaten you too.’ Diego retorted, confident as he went about fetching some ungodly looking juice concoction from the fridge.

How many different fruits went into just that, how many vegetables? The math wasn’t worth it, wasn’t worth the pang of mixed dread and desire it inspired in him.

‘And then we all called you, ah, well, never mind eh?’ Diego’s glare had silenced Klaus.

‘For the record, we’re sorry.’ Viktor offered, voice so gentle and meaning.

‘I’ve got nothing to be sorry for.’ Five retorted. He wasn’t there after all, and he was above childish name calling. He had found more creative insults.

‘Well you got off the hook easily anyway, you weren’t even there.’ Diego chimed in, but did take the time to nod to Viktor in a passing sense of camaraderie. He sat heavily at the table and looked at them all as he took a drink. ‘What brought this on anyway?’

‘We’re trying to convince little Fivey-‘

‘Older than you!’ His insistence was soundly ignored.

‘To come to the beach with us all at the weekend.’ Diego hastily swallowed the mouthful of his juice. What could all those ingredients even taste like together? Five shook his head at the sight.

‘Hell yeah you should come! You don’t get out enough.’

‘I get out plenty.’

‘To the library maybe.’ Klaus mumbled, twiddling with the buttons undone on his shirt.

‘Come on Five, it would be fun!’

‘Would it really?’ He sighed, wished he’d just blinked back up to his room with the coffee.

‘Its the beach bro.’ Diego’s voice was so deadpan that Five managed to feel insulted.

‘There isn’t even anything there! It’s all dead anyway!’ One of his hands gestured with the coffee cup for effect as he complained but the others were staring at him and, oh, right. Nervously he cleared his throat. ’I mean-‘

‘No, no what is it?’ Klaus was too gentle. They’d started doing this recently, paying attention to him rather than responding with their own drama and pushing what he said aside. Five didn’t know what to do with it. And it only took a few rapid equations to work out the cheapest way out of this situation.

‘Fine I’ll go. But don’t expect me to enjoy it.’ He blinked away. But not far.

Paranoid.

‘Alright alright.’ Five muttered quietly at Dolores’ imagined critique from where he sat in the pantry, listening.

‘Well, that was surprisingly easy, only took ten minutes.’ Klaus sounded both pleased and a little disappointed. Had he not wanted Five to come after all, or had he just wanted to do more wheedling?

‘What do you think he meant by it being dead?’ Viktor asked, voice contemplative and too damn observant.

‘I swear to God Klaus, if you making him go to the beach causes another apocalypse-‘

Diego and Klaus devolved into childish squabbles and Five blinked out of the pantry.

The beach huh. He hadn’t seen it in decades. He’d only been the once. If they’d ever done any missions by the sea as children Five certainly didn’t remember it.

It could be nice this time.

‘We can’t swim Dolores.’ In the emptiness of his room, the reminder drifted lifeless. He’d learned that one the hard way. ‘And only you can float.’

A weekend beach trip sounded like hell to Five but apparently he was one of the few. Yet it was interesting that the closer they got to the date the more cracks appeared in the others’ armour.

Diego would boast about his abilities, but when Luther had guffawed ‘oh my god! Fish-Boy!’ Their knife-wielding vigilante had begun to stammer on and off when they talked about the ocean. Allison had bitched at Luther down the phone for it, as had Klaus in person. Five had been listening in on parts of the phone call.

Because he liked to hear their voices, not because he was paranoid, Dolores!

But it wasn’t just Diego.

Allison had sounded hesitant, and wanted to bring Claire, but remained nervous about mixing Claire with their family. Five usually made himself scarce on the rare occasions that Allison brought Claire around. It had only been twice, but no matter how much he wanted to meet her, Five didn’t have anything to fall back on when interacting with people outside his siblings. Unless they were a threat, or it was for less than two minutes.

Three minutes fifteen had been his record, at the library where he went to practice. And after that he’d had to go hide in the bathroom stall and have a minor panic attack.

With people that mattered it was harder. Because there was only so long Five could talk to someone who mattered before he fucked it up. He’d only been able to say ‘Hi, nice to meet you’ to Claire before becoming overwhelmed by her childlike open-stare and making an excuse to run away. But he wasn’t the only reason for Allison’s hesitance.

Five thought she was worried about the crazy rubbing off.

During last month’s visit Klaus had told Claire the story of Dead Uncle Ben after she’d caught Klaus talking to what looked like thin air. Five had overheard on the phone call the week after how Claire had begun ‘talking to Dead Uncle Ben’ at school. For a custody battle situation, it was understandably a nightmare.

Diego always had knives on him, and children had sticky fingers. Claire kept trying to pull them out from Diego’s pockets and holsters and fingers. It wasn’t as if Diego encouraged or approved of it, but he had offered to teach her before he’d caught Allison’s look. And even at the beach Diego would probably be packing at least three knives. Probably more.

Luther had been fine at first, and was Claire’s favourite uncle. But then the Holy Trinity of Stupid; hitherto named Klaus, Luther and Diego, had loudly reminisced about the all the times Luther had accidentally injured them during training when they were kids. Even Five had joined in; Luther smacking him hard enough into the wall after a mis-timed jump and cracking his arm during combat training were ironically some of his clearer memories. Allison trusted Luther with Claire’s life, but she had looked a little green around the gills as they all laughed about it.

Viktor hadn’t done anything to directly inspire worry, but Allison had told Luther she was worried about Claire finding out what she’d done to her sibling when they were children. Five had stopped listening to the phone call once Allison started crying, feeling more than a little guilty about his eavesdropping.

So, Allison was apprehensive about Family Fun-Time at the Beach because it involved Family Fun-Time. Otherwise known as ill-facilitated chaos.

Klaus worried about taking Ben to the ocean and Ben being sad about only being able to be so-corporeal in the ocean. A guilt Five felt Klaus didn’t need to put on himself, given that without him there would be no beach for Ben. But he’d been told he had a rather unsympathetic view on things and asked to leave. It didn’t help that Ben was apparently desperate to go to the ocean and also sad about it, apparently.

Or so Five could tell from what he’d heard when he stood nearby Klaus’ room at night, or followed him at night down the street, or when he was hiding in the pantry eating fluffed-nutter sandwiches and just listening to his siblings being alive.

Friday lunchtime and Five thought that most of the pre-beach drama had probably run its course, that said nothing for what would blow up when they were actually there in typical Hargreeves-style. And he counted the journey to and from as a separate nightmarish entity altogether, but at least this time he was one of the cats to be herded, not the one doing the herding. Small mercies.

They were just lucky that Lila had decided not to come. Apparently their powers ‘gave her a headache’ whilst she was pregnant. Five had gone to visit her out of boredom and sibling duty, and swore to report back on the idiocy for her, and had somehow gotten roped into shopping.

‘Just zap us all there, I want to feel alive again.’

‘You could do it yourself.’ He pointed out, and she groaned and grabbed his hand. They did that a lot, held hands. Five had actually come to enjoy the brusque contact with his most violent sister. There remained a certain comfort in the knowledge he was holding the hand of another killer.

‘Don’t be a prick.’ She groaned. He waited, brow raised. ‘Look you’re more practiced than me alright! I don’t want to jump there and find out little Lila Junior is all over the floor somewhere else!’

‘Okay that’s disgusting.’ He’d blinked them just to stop the conversation, but not so quick that he hadn’t seen her wicked grin at his pain.

And, of course, after jumping that far, he didn’t have the juice to escape.

‘Do you even own anything that isn’t some god-awful dark academia bullshit?’

‘Rich coming from a punk.’

‘You’re going to the beach not a banquet-‘ They’d snapped and bitten at each other whilst grinning through their shark teeth and Lila had forced him to buy a pair of truly heinous swimming trunks about the length of the Academy shorts he’d used to wear. At least until Allison had dragged him out shopping again.

‘You wore that nice suit in the Sparrow timeline, you do not need to go back to looking like a prep-school kid.’

At least Allison had taste.

And secretly, Five had been glad that someone had made him do it. Old routines were the hardest to break for him when they seemed so ultimately unimportant.

‘Sunglasses!’ Lila belted out, breaking his musings and dragged him roughly over to a stand. She’d fussed over trying on shades and insisting on him doing the same and Five had allowed himself to pick out a pair he actually quite liked.

They suit you better than those goggles. Five huffed a smile at that. Dolores always had deplored his apocalyptic wardrobe.

‘I just, I want to be out there, but I’m not sure I’m ready to be out there.’ Five’s head popped up over the sunglasses stand.

‘Viktor? Luthor?’

‘Five!’

‘Lila?’

‘There’s the boys! No Klaus?’

‘He was, um, what are you doing here?’ Luther stumbled the words, other than Klaus and Five, the siblings were still somewhat awkward around Diego’s partner. Lila didn’t let it show, but Five thought the distance there bothered her. Five certainly wasn’t the one to know what to do about it. Klaus had told him he ‘imprinted’, like a duckling, and that had been enough ‘friendship’ talk to last another lifetime.

And he got embarrassed enough by Diego’s obvious happiness at him taking the time to include Lila.

Five held up the shorts he was being frog-marched into buying.

Not that there was a point, because he wouldn’t be stepping foot in the ocean ever again.

‘Apparently this is required dress code.’

‘Oh, same.’ Luther grinned a bit, before his face fell. Viktor, who’d been the one talking earlier, looked a little sullen.

‘No offence, but me and my spawn are going to walk away from all this.’ Lila gestured and excited stage left back towards the child section where, embarrassingly, Five had just come from to get the shorts in his hand. She had meant that their powers were bothering her, a weird pregnancy side-effect, but the pair of them looked a little slapped in the face.

‘What’s up with you two?’ Five asked, coming around the sunglasses stand to eye them up and down better. ‘Was it Diego? It’s usually Diego.’

‘What? No.’ Luther insisted. Viktor cleared his throat.

‘It’s just,’ Viktor paused for a breath and looked to Luther, who nodded encouragingly. ‘It’s hard to, cross some hurdles, with the dysmorphia.’

‘It’ll get easier, or I hope it will.’ Luther’s half-encouragement was half-hearted but well meaning, and Viktor offered him a small sad smile. Five just frowned at them.

‘Dysmorphia?’ He rolled the word around, squinting. ‘The medical condition?’ He frowned harder. In a sense, Luther’s ape-like physicality could be called that. But Sloane had gone a long way to helping with that. But she wasn’t fully welcomed into the loving disaster that was his family yet, so she wouldn’t be at the beach. Maybe that was the problem.

He’d said the wrong thing, Luther was flushed in embarrassment and Viktor put a hand on his arm before cutting in.

‘No, well-‘

‘Sort of, in my case. Both I guess.’ Luther spoke over Viktor, seeming to pull in his confidence with a truly remarkable strength. Strength of character that their father had always failed to measure. Much like Viktor’s patience.

‘Body dysmorphia. It’s when you might feel like the way your body looks isn’t how you think it should be. It’s how I felt, before. And somedays there’s another new hurdle to cross.’

‘It’s not comfortable, the idea of being on show like that.’ They managed their words with aplomb, but Five was somewhere between them and himself.

Maybe that was selfish, but he found himself looking at his own hands as they spoke, jaw a little slack.

Dysmorphia.

‘Oh.’ He didn’t have many more words for them, but the silence suggested he should, so he pulled away from himself and looked to them again. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Taken aback a little by the blunt question, they looked at each other. Viktor found his voice first.

‘We were debating between making a ’t-shirts are ok’ pact or a-‘

‘’Skin or nothing’ oath.’ Luther finished. Five didn’t think he had the skill set to say the right thing.

You do. Dolores insisted softly. You’re kinder than you think.

‘Well, let me know what you decide.’ He offered, hoping he was somewhere on the track to wiping the misery off their faces. Three apocalypses and it’s still the human condition bringing us all down. ‘I’ll join you.’ Decidedly he nodded, and turned to make sure Lila wasn’t getting caught shoplifting. Honestly her skills needed some improvement. Although she would probably say the same about him.

Viktor and Luther’s seaside-problems Five could understand maybe a bit better on a personal level than those afflicting the rest of his family, because there was a certain degree of dysmorphia to all their bodily situations that didn’t bother dwelling on but couldn’t not be dwelt on at the beach. It wasn’t like he enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror, so on some level he got it.

He’d bring a t-shirt in case.

Despite their united worry, and Five’s pessimism, the Hargreeves family all descended on the mansion Friday evening for their trip to the beach the following day.

Five nearly blinked to the roof when Claire ran up and hugged him, standing with his fists clenched throughout and then vanishing behind the bar. As in hidden behind the bar. He had long ago sworn to Allison that he wouldn’t drink in front of Claire. They could at least both agree that she was a child.

Luther and surprisingly Viktor got drunk on the other side of the bar and Klaus merrily joined in.

Lila dropped Diego off to stay overnight since they had an early start come the morning, and Five contemplated blinking into their car to escape whilst Diego shouted at her to not do anything criminal while he was gone.

Allison escaped to smoke twice in between fretting about which sibling to entrust Claire to in the meantime, and quickly decided to just put Claire to bed instead.

Five listened to it all hidden behind the bar. Klaus knew he was there, he kept passing his glass down for Five to refill. Five left a shot out for Ben as well, because it felt polite, Even if apparently Ben disapproved of alcohol.

All too soon, they were turning in for the night in dribs and drabs.

Five hung on until the end. Surprisingly with Luther and Viktor.

‘Ahem.’ Luther cleared his throat and knocked a little sloppily on the bar top as they were turning to go. Five had been humming ‘Dream a little Dream of me’ for Dolores for the last few minutes and hiccupped himself to a stop. ‘For tomorrow, no shirts.’

‘No shirts!’ Viktor chorused loudly and very, very drunk, toppling a little from the sounds of it.

‘No shirts!’ Luther joined in and the pair stumbled up for the night.

‘No shirts.’ He toasted to the air, took his last swig and went to pick up Dolores-

But she wasn’t there. The shop had thrown her away.

In a flash the martini glass he’d been drinking from smashed against the bar where he’d thrown it.

You’re gonna have to clean that up now.

‘I know, I know.’

He ignored the catch in his voice as he moved to do just that, craving to hold her and getting glass shards instead.

—

‘Get up Five! Christ, there’s always one.’

‘And it’s usually him, or you. Actually it's usually you.’

‘Shut up and help me! Oh wait you can’t.’

‘Wow, low blow.’

‘Oh I can go lower-‘

‘Shut up.’ Five smacked his pillow at Klaus like a true teenager and glowered. His hair was ruffled and he smelt like a bar.

‘You look like some nasty little cat I found on the sidewalk and just want to put in a blanket,’ Klaus half-crooned, half sneered, grabbing his grumbling gremlin of a brother. ‘Now come on, get up and showered or Allison will have our asses.’

‘Have our asses!’ All three of them turned with slightly horrified gazes to see Claire standing in the door giggling, fingers pressed over her mouth and looking like she knew exactly what she was doing. The little tyrant. With a final giggle she turned and ran. ‘Mooooooom!’

‘No no no no no!’ Klaus abandoned Five to his fate and sprinted off after his favourite little terror of a niece. If she made it to Allison, they were all doomed.

She made it Allison.

Five managed to get himself somewhat presentable, down the stairs and into clothes. In fact they all did, more or les on time, it was a Hargreeves miracle.

‘Loving the shorts buddy. You needed more colour in your wardrobe.’

‘Keep talking and I’ll sk-‘ Five stopped himself, Ben snorted uncharitably behind Klaus’ shoulder as Claire looked eerily around at them, eyes wide and guileless. Klaus cleared his throat whilst Five’s brain seemed to re-wire itself, clutching his coffee for dear life and eyes shielded by shades. ‘Skkkunk you.’

‘Skunk you.’ Claire mouthed, hand benignly in Allison’s, eyes bright with hell-fire.

‘Skunk me?’ Klaus turned to Five again, disbelief and laughter battling for dominance in his chest. ‘That’s the best you could do?’

‘Keep talking, and you’ll find out.’ Five’s coffee got grumbled into and Ben guffawed behind them.

‘You’re both idiots.’

‘Shut up Ben!’

‘Dead Uncle Ben’s here?!’ Klaus shrivelled under the weight of Allison’s incredulous raised brows turning to him with the sweet promise of death as Ben ‘awwed’ behind him.

Allison had already had to put up with Claire having a tantrum about not being able to talk to Uncle Ben, and had thrown her hands in the air when Klaus had said Ben also wanted to talk to Claire.

‘Sure, why not! Let’s just wheel her right into therapy rather than window-shopping it!’ She had stormed to the back of the bus and sat next to Five, because he was currently the quietest and she saw the least of him.

Ben’s blue conjured form absolutely enchanted Claire, and her eyes swelled so large and happy and un-affected by rumour as she looked gleefully between Dead Uncle Ben and her Mom that it made Allison’s heart lighter.

Watching Ben form into what existence Klaus could give him was always a delight, if a bittersweet one, and Allison found herself relaxing a bit at watching the joint joy on her child and brother’s faces.

They had taken the bus to the beach, changed three times and by the time the ocean breeze was coming salty and refreshing through the window Allison’s hungover siblings had drunk enough coffee, water and juice to grace the land of the living. Viktor and Luther had woken from their nap enough to tease Diego about his upcoming life of parenthood. She’d berate them, or join them, but honestly they were just the warm up act for the terror Allison herself could inspire if she told Diego the truth of parenting. But she didn’t quite want to do that.

Something in her knew the horrors too well to joke about them right now, the emotions always too present. And some dark voice inside her said that she didn’t get to lord it over anyone. Not with the mess she’d made the first time round.

And probably was making, letting her kid talk to her ghost Uncle.

‘It’ll be fine.’ Allison jolted a bit, and glanced down at Five, slumped still somewhat bonelessly, dressed in a plain top and tropical beach shorts that were almost the same shade of yellow as Allison’s own bikini under her wrap dress. Five was alert enough to be verbal, which was good, but not quite enough to move further down the bus and put up with their family’s particular brand of unending bullshit.

‘What will?’ She asked, bewildered. ‘This family trip? I’m pretty sure its’ already gone way better than it should, which means we’re due for a tsunami at least.’ He snickered at that and she smiled at the rarely heard sound.

‘Well I won’t disagree, but I meant Claire with Ben. If anyone can talk sense to her, it’s the one who usually holds the brain cell.’

And Five was somewhat right. Despite the way he very awkwardly coughed and looked through his fringe out the window when Claire came to sit between them.

‘Mom, I’m sorry about pretending to see Dead Uncle, I mean, Uncle Ben at school. I know it’s a Serious Topic now.’ She nodded solemnly, and Allison felt her face crease up in adoration at the attemptive-adult look on her daughter’s angelic face. And the apology that she wasn’t sure she deserved, but couldn’t help melting over. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop talking about him because Uncle Ben and Death are important.’ And just like that, adoration turned to the sort of disbelief that only children could inspire. Five snorted.

‘Smart kid.’ He muttered, and Allison found her smile reforming.

‘Thank you Claire, and you’re right, those are important topics. We’ll have a talk about bluntness at, a much, much later date.’ Because there were only so many Serious Parenting Moments she could handle before 10 in the morning. She thought she had an easy out, but then Five was turning to Claire with a devilish look at Allison over his glasses and a truly awful smile. Her stomach dropped.

‘Whatever she says don’t listen to her, your Mom mastered bluntness at age Six.’

‘Six?!’

‘Six.’ Five nodded.

‘I think you should go talk to Uncle Ben while he’s here sweetie, Uncle Klaus can only keep him visible so long-‘

‘But I wanna talk to Uncle Five too!’

‘No you don’t-‘ Allison and Five flashed each other an awkward look at their matching words.

‘Hey Claire! Claire! Wanna see the octopus in Uncle Ben’s belly-‘

‘NO SHOWING HER THE HORROR!’ Allison shouted as Claire squealed and ran for a glaring Ben and shit-eating Klaus.

She didn’t have one child, she had a whole bus of them.

The beach spray in the air wasn’t like he’d thought it would be.

Five watched the unreal blue hue of the ocean, heard the waves crash rather than slosh thickly, felt sand rather than trash and rubble under his feet.

It was beautiful.

‘So, we doing this?’

‘We’re doing this.’ He glanced to Luther and Viktor. They’d set up their family’s base-camp on the beach, and Allison was over at the nearby changing huts getting Claire sorted. Diego had set them up under one of the available umbrellas and was lecturing Klaus on sunscreen. Because of course he was.

Red rays from the too-hot sunlight burnt through the distorted atmosphere, piercing dust-and-storm clouds, lighting the grey sloshing water in an eerie light.

‘Don’t you want to swim? I always wanted to swim.’

‘Hey Five!’ Sand hit him in the face. Five spluttered and spun around. No crap littering the golden sands. Just his family and the blue tide. Disguising his shaky breath, Five glared at Diego. ‘You too, sun cream, come on line up.’

‘Sun cream Nazi.’

‘Want me to spray it in your face Klaus?’ Klaus just groaned, turning around obediently as Diego sprayed an endless can of aerosol ‘factor 30’ onto his pale skin.

‘Might as well get it over with Five. He’ll have his way.’ Klaus pouted.

‘That I will, alright, you’re done, come back in three hours.’

‘Alright Mom.’ Klaus mocked with a grin and escaped away, donning his brimmed hat and heading to the ocean.

‘You’re up.’ Diego beckoned him over and Five shook his head snorting.

‘The sun’s not even radioactive at this point.’ Diego stared and then grabbed him.

‘You’re the most in danger, young skin is important to protect.’

‘Get off me!’ Five snatched the can and roughly sprayed over himself before throwing it back. ‘Happy?’

‘That’s not how you apply sunscreen bro.’

‘Its literally what you just did.’

‘No sunscreen, no sun.’ Diego stated with an impressive amount of finality and pointed at the towels under the parasol where Viktor and Luther were lurking. Beyond them, Allison was running after Claire to the water.

‘Fine by me.’ He wasn’t swimming anyway, and he’d had enough of the sun’s harsh rays. Diego seemed appeased, and headed to the ocean himself.

Five settled down and, seeing his remaining brothers had already removed their shirts, did the same. Solidarity and all.

Job done, he settled back, and watched the ocean.

It was even more mesmeric now than it had been back then, thick with ash and ruined life, but the largest amount of water he’d seen in months.

He hadn’t washed in months.

Is it even real? Dolores laughed at him

‘Of course it’s real.’ Walking there had been a dream, heart thudding, shedding clothes along the way haphazardly, stumbling over ruble and Dolores in his arms, in a dream till the water sloshed over his ankles.

The sensation had sent shivers up his spine.

‘Hey, you swimming?’ Viktor nudged him back into focus and Five looked around him, glad of the sunglasses hiding his eyes.

‘No.’

‘Really? But we’re at the beach, and it’s pretty empty, even Luther’s in.’ It took Five a moment to notice that yes, he was. Tossing Claire up in the air and into the water as she squealed in delight. Diego looked like he was doing some pretty serious swimming while Klaus and Allison lounged in the shallows.

‘You go, have fun. I’ll guard the camp. Wouldn’t want us loosing our clothes.’ He got a frown at that, but Five had lost his Academy uniform that day on the beach and with it the only reminder of home he had left, the only identity he had. Not to mention the only clothes he’d had.

Just because he’d wanted to feel water and hadn’t weighed them down.

‘Well, come over when you’re ready. You’ll like it.’ He grinned in lieu of answering and Viktor shrugged and went off, both him and Luther bare-skinned from the waist up and wearing it with growing confidence.

Smiling a little, Five folded his arms behind his head and stretched his toes into the sand. It burned a bit, but the feeling was unlike anything he’d felt before. He kept doing it over and over, finally sitting up and admitting that he wanted to touch it.

Five settled off the towel and felt the sand all over, shivering, digging his fingers into it.

Dry and hot on top, cool and heavier underneath if he dug down far enough.

Golden, soft.

His fingers found a shell and Five took a while staring at the delicate pattern, mesmerised. He looked for more.

‘What are you doing?’ Five had to get a better handle on being snuck up on. He looked around to see Claire staring at him, rocking on her feet.

‘Finding shells.’ He replied.

‘I’ll help!’ She lay down next to the hole he’d dug and reached her arms in to tease through the sand. ‘They’re pretty.’

‘Uh, sure.’ Seeing how deep Claire had to reach into the hole, Five looked around and winced. Half of their belongings were covered in sand and to match the hole was a large mountain he’d moved aside, digging straight down mindlessly.

‘Is this one good?’ Claire pulled out a long, thin shell, poking Five’s knee with it.

‘Its great.’ He took it and tried not to feel her eyes on him as he looked it over. ‘It’s a razor clam shell.’ He offered, turning it over in his fingers and admiring the barred pattern. He put it in the ‘clam’ pile.

‘Really? What’s this one.’

‘A snail.’

‘And this one?’ Five glanced over from where he’d reached for another speck of porcelain white buried in the sand.

‘A crab claw.’

‘Where’s the rest of the crab?’

‘Given that that’s it’s arm, I’m assuming that it’s dead.’

‘Like Uncle Ben.’

‘Like Uncle Ben. Although, I don’t know if crabs have ghosts that stick around, that’s really an ethical and philosophical debate on the presence of a soul and frankly it’s exhausting.’

‘Oh.’

‘Claire! There you are, don’t run off like that!’ Allison looked vaguely harassed as she hurried to them. ‘Oh, Five, thanks for looking after her.’

‘Don’t mention it.’ He replied, somewhat guilty where he had moved to sit in the hole he’d dug, and hadn’t even noticed Claire being ‘missing’ in the first place. He’d been too focused by the texture of sand and delicate shells.

‘What are you two doing?’ The frown and amused quirk to her mouth suggested that this wasn’t normal.

‘Uncle Five’s collecting shells.’ Incredulous eyes turned his way, Five scowled.

‘I can stop.’ He snapped out.

‘No, no Five, it’s okay. People collect shells at the beach.’ Her assurance was swift but gentle, genuine. Claire was looking at him wide-eyed.

‘Oh. Okay.’ He replied, somewhat derailed from defending himself.

Prickly. Five ignored Dolores’ fond chuckle.

‘Impressive hole Five.’ Luther came up behind Allison and Five hopped out enough to sit on the rim of his sand pit. Claire squealed on seeing him and reached up to be lifted, she kept hold of the crab claw.

‘What is that?’

‘It’s Uncle Five’s dead crab!’

‘Don’t touch things like that!’ Allison wrestled it from Claire who pouted.

‘Uncle Five touched it!’

‘Well, he’s a heathen, not a lady.’ Five snorted, but didn’t deny it. ‘Let’s go wash your hands.’ Claire was led away with a plea of ‘but mooooooom’ and Luther took her place.

‘You’re not swimming?’

‘Apparently I’m collecting shells.’ Five gestured over to the neatly sorted collection he’d accumulated.

Dolores liked them.

‘I just thought you were digging a hole. Maybe we should make a sand castle.’

‘A what?’ Luther was already gathering the sand Five had piled up and grinned.

‘I’ll show you! I used to try and make miniature ones on the moon with the moon dust I collected, but we could make a really big one!’ The childlike enthusiasm was enough to stir Five’s eternal curiosity, he followed Luther out of his hole and felt the sun lap his skin as they began forming a ‘foundation’.

It was surprisingly enjoyable. Therapeutically technical.

It looks good.

It did, Five thought.

Give it a tower for me, like a princess would have.

‘It needs a tower.’

‘Good idea. And a flag.’

They built for a while before Diego came to join them and added himself in with a comment of ‘sick’. They stuck one of Diego’s knives in the top in place of a flag and Viktor and Klaus came by with a heaping assortment of lunch foods.

‘Feeding time at the zoo!’

Allison and Claire followed having been in the sea again, and Five got up and stretched from where he’d been hunched over. The water glittered in the sun.

Five thought he might like the beach.

‘Five, your back!’

‘What about it?’ Five looked at Diego askance but got pushed under the shade.

‘It’s coming up red already, I told you to stay in the shade.’

‘Such a parent in the making.’ Klaus teased. ‘What? I think it’s sweet, really!’ Ben, apparently, was getting involved.

‘I’m fine.’ Five protested, but was wrangled onto one of their sandy towels and he watched bemused as Diego wetted a t-shirt and draped it over Five’s shoulders. The coolness did feel good, he hadn’t realised how hot his skin had gotten. Sometimes it was hard to feel things.

‘After lunch, you’re putting sunscreen on.’ Diego warned with a raised finger and firm stare. ‘Now drink your water.’

‘You’re not the boss of me.’ But he wasn’t about to waste water, so he drunk what he was given and ate the hotdog passed his way and listened to their chatter. With the distraction of the sand gone, his thoughts ticked lazily back to the last ocean trip he’d had.

He’d been so hungry that time that he’d contemplated eating one of the rotting fish carcasses before deciding better.

#the umbrella academy #tua #five hargreeves #diego hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #luther hargreeves #tua fan fiction #tua fanfic #allison hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #ben hargreeves #family bonding #slice of life #wip

41 notes · View notes

saguaroaquatics · 9 months ago

Text

Children's Swimming Lessons Near Me

Are you looking for children's swimming lessons near me? Then check out Saguaro Aquatics! Offering group and private classes, we make sure that every child gets to learn how to swim in a fun manner. We offer 7 swimming levels, with each one teaching children something new. Don’t wait! Boost their confidence, and encourage them to learn about water safety. Enroll your child at Saguaro Aquatics swimming classes today and start their journey of becoming comfortable with water.

#Children's Swimming Lessons Near Me #arthritis therapy oro valley

0 notes

cordyce · 2 years ago

Text

(we are written) in the sand and in the stars

Neteyam x Reader

Fic Summary: Sullys stick together. That is something you have heard since the beginning. But when you are forced to uproot and leave your home, it is something you must learn to fully take to heart. You are not technically a Sully, but you fight like one. And that in turn is enough to be shielded like one as well. There is no choice but to openly accept that this family, these Na’vi, are your fortress. It is perhaps harder, though, to accept that Neteyam has seemingly appointed himself as your personal guard.

༄ CHAPTER THREE: SHORELINES ON A STRING

Chapter Summary: There is no real time given for you and your family to settle into your new home; essentially, you’re thrown into the lion’s den of Metkayina training the very first day after you arrive. But even as you find yourself struggling, it seems like someone is always right there to step in to help. Someone exceedingly familiar and far too willing.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Read on AO3

Water lessons are set to begin the very next morning. The chief’s children–Tsireya and Ao’nung–are still holding true to their assignments as your trainers. Rotxo, who you have since learned is merely just a friend of the others and not actually their sibling, has apparently appointed himself as one of your trainers, as well.

If you had to give your honest opinion on the matter, you think being thrown headlong into Metkayina lifestyle training the first day after you arrived was rushing it, just the tiniest bit. But then again, no one did ask for your opinion–a seemingly recurring affair.

The Metkayinas are already waiting on the edge of your family’s bungalow by the time you and your siblings step out of it. Apart from a smile and wave from Tsireya (the only one who seems truly happy to be here) there is no greeting before the three of them turn and dive directly–gracefully, you must admit–into the water below.

So much for asking for pointers beforehand, you think.

You watch as Neteyam and Lo’ak smile at each other before Neteyam hits Lo’ak’s shoulder with a light “come on” and then they’re jumping right in too. Definitely not as graceful as the reef people before them and certainly nowhere near as well practiced.

(Personally, you think they look more like Na’vi being thrown off the backs of their ikrans as they flail into the water, but you choose not to voice that to save a bit of their pride).

Tuk does nothing to stave off her outward excitement, and her wide grin flashes to you and Kiri at the prospect of jumping in. It’s just the three of you left, and you know it will be easier if you all go together. But as you move forward with your sisters, it’s like there is a tether holding you to the makeshift dock that tugs you back as their momentum lets them jump forward.

You were hoping the prolonged amount of time flying over the open ocean would have solved this. If anything, you thought you could get over this unease if you just pushed yourself off and jumped straight in. That’s what your father would always tell you and your siblings when you were younger, anyway; that you can overcome any problem if you go at it head first.

Now, though, it seems like your head is what keeps causing this problem in the first place.

It makes you feel stupid, as your siblings slowly pop their heads back out of the water one by one to find you still standing there on the netting. You want to kick yourself for being so apprehensive when the chief’s children raise themselves above the surf just to give you questioning looks. Suddenly you feel two inches tall, and you wish you were so you could hide from their misty glances.

“What’s wrong, (Y/n)?” Tuk asks, eyes wide as she looks up at you from where she’s floating in the water.

She makes it look so easy, so manageable. And that makes you feel twice as stupid than you already do.

“I–”

“Don’t tell me you can’t swim.”

It’s Ao’nung, who asks it. Your gaze darts over to him and your stomach twists at the smirk on his face, the animosity in his eyes. Despite Tsireya slapping his arm, he doesn’t waver. Neteyam and Lo’ak whip their heads around to face him, both opening their mouths like they’re about to fire something off. Lo’ak may have just teased you for your fears all along the journey here, but you know he’d never let anyone else get away with doing such a thing.

“I can swim, thank you,” you counter in the same tone as your instigator before the two of them have the chance to mouth something off that you know will do nothing but get them into trouble. And it isn’t a lie. You can swim, it’s just..

“Then get in the water. We don’t have all day.” Ao’nung tips his head, raises his eyebrows expectantly, like he’s wanting you to give up just to give him the satisfaction of it.

You’d like to wipe that look right off of his haughty, patronizing face.

Biting the inside of your cheek, your gaze becomes downcast once more, pointed to the water below you. It isn’t deep but it is definitely extensive enough that you know it will be well above your head. Your hands feel sickeningly numb and a part of you is debating on whether or not to backtrack on your previous statement and simply pretend you can’t swim just to get out of this. Yet, just before you think of turning on your heel and walking off, Neteyam swims to the edge of the landing.

“If you jump in, I’ll catch you,” he offers as he raises his hands up in your direction. The look on his face is a complete contrast compared to Ao’nung’s. It’s steady, fervent. “It will be okay.”

It’s hard for you to tell if it’s his words or his actions that have you crouching lower on the edge of the platform, that have you trusting him and swallowing that first pebble of dread down your uncomfortably tight throat. Regardless of which one it is, your hands feel just a little less numb as you reach down for him too.

“You promise you won’t let me drown?” You implore quietly, where just the two of you can hear, and you laugh weakly in an attempt to appear just a smidgen unbothered. There’s a shake in your fingertips and a tremble in your deliverance that you try your best to hide; you wonder how well you do so.

He is just out of your reach, a few finger widths away from touching is all that separates the pair of you, and he nods.

“Pӓnutìng,” [“I Promise”] he heartens instantly, ardently.

So, you jump.

It lasts only for a split second, the dropping of your gut as your toes hit the water that has you sucking in a breath and wanting desperately to scramble backwards in an effort to grab onto any piece of the netted dock that your fingertips can cling to. But then you feel the grip of Neteyam’s hands just below your ribs, the security of his hold that softens your blow into the water and allows you to keep your head above it, just enough. Your breath trickles out of you like a stuttering faucet as the waves from your descent settle into their natural ripple once again, and you look to Neteyam who is already looking at you.

“See? No drowning,” he grins, a tilt of playfulness in his tone you know to be walking the line of teasing. You’re tempted to say something to level it, but he turns genuine again before you do. “Just stick beside me. We’ll do this together, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you breathe as everyone else dives under the water once again, “Irayo.” [ “Thanks.” ]

Neteyam releases his grip on you and takes in a deep breath before diving down, head disappearing out of your sight. Though your fingers are still twitching, your tail still quivering every other beat, you decide it is now or never. You suck in a deep breath of your own and force your head below the waves.

Nothing could have prepared you for just how beautiful life below sea level is. Even while being veiled with a tinge of crystal blue, everything is so vibrant, so effervescent. Life is bustling underwater–schools of fish part to swim around you and scatter as your hand slices past them, species you have never seen glide away elegantly like they’re merely floating. Nothing seems afraid of your presence, swayed by the addition of your group in their waters in the slightest.

It’s like it all simply accepts you, embraces you as a newfound part of the ecosystem it shall adapt around; flourish regardless.

Your eyes stay wide as you linger close to Neteyam’s side. You really are a perfectly fine swimmer, but it is clear each of you are greatly sub par when compared to the Metkayina people. Tsireya, swimming backwards, beckons for you all to follow, so you try your best to do so. Well, except for Kiri, who you notice exploring in her own direction, seemingly captivated. You don’t blame her. It’s hard not to get caught up in it all, being surrounded by such novel beauty has your mind reeling, and Kiri has always been so in tune with the life around her.

But your marveling is cut short once your chest starts to feel tight–in a way you know is not caused by your current bout of anxiety–so you tug on Neteyam’s arm and point up. He nods, taps Lo’ak, and the four of you swim to the top.

Each of you gasp in the salty air as you break out of the liquid confines of the ocean, giving your lungs a replenishing break. It is short lived, despite your wish that it wasn’t, as you dip your heads back under just to see Tsireya’s hand signal–which you can only assume means for all of you to follow her once more, because this kind of sign language is something none of you have ever been taught. You each suck in another cursory breath and attempt to dive again.

You are well aware that their anatomy is slightly different than yours, more suited (better adapted) for this terrain and aquatic life, but it still baffles you how much of an advantage they hold over each of your heads. They are lightyears better swimmers than you Sullys are, and a part of you knows no amount of training will ever change that. You could never dream of swimming with such ease, such inclination.

This dive is even shorter, lasting only a fraction of the time your first one did. Neteyam is the first to signal a need for breath now, but all four of you are in dire need of the air. You wonder if it’s because you dove deeper, if it was the pressure that made you need it that much faster. The pressure was definitely getting to you, in a more mental sense, so you were thankful as you swam for the surface regardless of the reason.

Turning to look at Tuk (because even if you personally are inclined to think you’re going to have a heart attack at any given second, you feel the need to ensure she’s alright) as you suck in a breath, you don’t notice how your hand instinctively grabs onto Neteyam’s arm to soothe yourself. That is, until he places his own hand on top of yours.

“You okay?”

Tipping your head, you mumble an affirmation. Inherently, you are okay. It feels like such a foolish and trivial thing, to be scared of something as plain as water, but then again it’s not really the water you’re scared of, is it?

“Are you alright?” Tsireya questions your group as the three of them rise above the tide.

“You’re too fast,” Tuk whines, voicing what all of you are thinking but being the only one you know could get away with such a straightforward grievance. “Wait for us!”

“Just breathe,” Tsireya soothes. “Breathe.”

“Easier said than done,” you mutter under your breath, fighting the roll of your eyes at such a statement from someone who appears to have the breath control of a fish. Or Lo’ak when he used to hold his breath as a threat to your parents as a child.

“You are not good divers,” Ao’nung smarts off. “Maybe good at swinging through trees, but..”

That earns him a smack to the back of his head from his sister and you don’t even try to hide your puff of a laugh at the sight. Well deserved, in your opinion. He maybe even needs another smack or two, the way you see it.

“C’mon bro,” Lo’ak wagers.

“We don’t speak this finger talk, you guys,” Neteyam voices, holding up his hand to poorly copy one of the signs Tsireya had been trying to show earlier. “We don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I will teach you,” Tsireya offers, ever the dutiful, generous girl she keeps proving herself to be. You wish some of that would rub off on her brother.

Before you can ask if there’s some sort of textbook on it, Rotxo speaks up for the first time today. “Where’s Kiri?

“Who?”

“Kiri,” he repeats. “Where is Kiri?”

“Did you see her?”

“Yeah, don’t–don’t worry,” you dismiss, and you think for a second as you see everyone’s eyes darting around frantically that your family is lucky to have at least one member who is halfway observant of everyone’s whereabouts. “I saw her swimming that other way earlier. She likes exploring things herself. I’m sure she’s fine.”

Everyone nods, though Tsireya and Rotxo give one last look in the direction you had motioned with your head, before you’re being told you can make your way back to the shallows for your next portion of training. You aren’t sure what it is, but you’re willing to paint on any face of excitement if it means your feet will be on solid ground again as you follow your escorts towards the shore, thankful to not be submerged any longer.

As Ao’nung calls out for the animals of which your next area of training will be revolving around, any trace of thankfulness drains from your body.

“These are ilus,” he states with a gesture of his hand to the creatures that have just swam up upon being summoned. “If you want to live here, you have to ride.”

As he is saying this, Tsireya is already leading Lo’ak over to his own ilu. You observe as he climbs onto it smoothly enough. It is a lot easier saddling onto the ilu than the ikran, you have deduced, but that does not mean you are willing to attempt it.

You listen in as Tsireya tries to give Lo’ak pointers, showing him where to hold on his ilu, how he should position himself. Then, you watch as he takes off into the water. Lo’ak has never been a particularly fast learner, so you partially expected it to go awry his first time, but it still makes you flinch when you see him fly off the back of his ilu within seconds of the ride.

The Metkayina people around laugh at his blunder (something you might have joined in on in any other circumstance at seeing your brother flounder like that), but now it simply has you wrapping your arms around yourself.

“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Ao’nung simpers as he turns around to face you, the same stupid, trying tilt of his lips from before. “Let’s see if you fly off faster than your brother.”

“Pass,” you respond instantly, stepping away from the ilu he calls up between the two of you.

“Pass?” He scrunches his brows at you, reaches over to tug on your arm to bring you closer to the ilu. “There’s no pass. You have to ride, you don’t have a choice.”

You jerk your arm out of his grasp and step back again. “I don’t want to.”

“Just try it!” It’s Tuk this time, who chimes in from where she’s standing in front of an ilu of her own that Tsireya has called up for her. She’s being supportive, you know this, but it does not dull the edge in your response.

“No, Tuk, I said I don’t want to,” you shake your head, but your eyes soften as you look at her hopeful face. “Mom isn’t learning so I shouldn’t be forced to, either.”

This seems to strike a nerve with the Metkayina boys standing around as you hear their grumbles and gripes. But it seems to especially unnerve Ao’nung, who takes a stride forward like he’s wanting to get up in your face.

“Now you listen here, forest girl–”

“It’s fine,” a voice cuts through just before Ao’nung gets too close. You both look over to see Neteyam, who has apparently already found his way onto an ilu by the help of Rotxo, who’s standing awkwardly nearby. “She can just ride with me. Or will that cause more problems, too?”

Neteyam’s smiling, but his eyes do not mirror that same warmth. Something inside you surges at the blunt proposition. You pass it off to be straight satisfaction, given you get to see how the ever so smug Ao’nung falters in expression before he whips himself around with a click against his teeth.

“Fine. But first learning to ride with two is harder. Do not complain to me when you can’t get the hang of it.”

He gives none of you the opportunity to reply before he’s stalking off, so you find your way over to Neteyam. Rotxo is giving him a run down on hand positions and how to hold his body underwater when you make it to his side. They both turn their attention to you as you step up next to them.

“Are you sure? About the riding with you thing?” you push, because the last thing you want to do is slow down everyone else’s adaptability because of your own (foolish) personal issues. Again. “I can just sneak off and let you do it on your own.”

“I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t,” he reaffirms, then turns back to Rotxo. “How will it be different for two?”

It takes a few minutes for Rotxo to tweak and try his explanations for riding with a passenger. It really doesn’t seem all that difficult, but then again you’re still above water, and you won’t be the one steering this thing. He instructs you to climb onto Neteyam’s ilu just behind him and you do as you’re told. It’s a bit awkward, figuring out the hand positions and how close you really need to be seated. Rotxo places your arms around Neteyam’s waist and directs you to lock your hands there. He explains that you can be more lenient with the hand placement when you get more comfortable riding, but for now the grip has to stay tight and secure.

As you feel Neteyam tense under your hands, ever so slightly, you wonder if maybe he’s nervous about this whole riding thing, too. You don’t get the chance to ask him before he takes off.

It’s rough the first few rides (and you aren’t sure who freaks out more when you and Neteyam fly off in separate directions underwater, you or him) but eventually it becomes a little easier. You feel guilty, deep in your gut, for tampering with Neteyam’s experience and hardening his learning curve. But you try to remind yourself as Tsireya and Rotxo guide your family away from the shallows that he was the one who offered, that it was his choice to volunteer himself.

It takes you a bit to actually find the courage to look around as you’re riding through the water instead of hiding your face in Neteyam’s shoulder (this is a lot faster than just swimming, after all), but when you do you find yourself at the same level of amazement you had been before. It really is extraordinary, life in the sea, and you would be lying to yourself if you didn’t admit that a part of you might like it here after all.

After seeing everyone is well adjusted enough on their ilus, Tsireya and Rotxo pull your family (minus Tuk) to the rocks for some breathing lessons. Having good breath control is one of the most vital components of being a successful diver, you’re told.

As far as you’re concerned, taking advice from people quite literally born in the water is pretty redundant, all things considered.

Tsireya and Rotxo (the latter, you’ve discovered, is far more willing to help with you newcomers than the Olo’eyktan’s own son) begin to lead your circle through various breathing exercises. The key is long, deep breaths, focusing to slow down your heart rate as much as possible. Keeping yourself calm, at peace.

Something you’ve never been particularly great at.

Tsireya tries to use Lo’ak to demonstrate this, who does alright on the breathing portion, but fails drastically (embarrassingly, more like) when she places her hand on his chest to feel his heartbeat.

She tells him his heart is beating too fast and you nearly burst out laughing–Neteyam does, along with Rotxo, laugh under his breath when she says it, to which Kiri rolls her eyes. And you can tell by the look on Lo’ak’s face that he wants nothing more than the rocks beneath him to split open so he can have an early meeting with the great mother right about now.

You’re given a few more tips, some other concepts you can try in order to get your heart rate as slow as possible, before everyone starts to depart. Tsireya and Lo’ak split off, talking about diving lessons and giving incentive. Kiri wanders away to do what you can only assume will be more exploring, and you watch Rotxo venture towards the village center (probably to find that insufferable friend of his). Which leaves you and Neteyam, who apparently already has an idea in mind.

“Okay, breathe with me,” he instructs.

A huff blows past your lips. “This is stupid, Neteyam.”

You’re sitting directly across from him in water that comes just up to your chin. If you were standing, it would probably reach right above the middle of your thighs. It’s shallow enough, but you understand what he is getting at. Doesn’t mean you’re all too thrilled about it, though.

“It’s not stupid, you skxawng,” he deters, then promptly dodges the hand you swing at him at the name. He simpers at you and grabs your hand as you go to pull it back (like that fell right into his plans) and places it to his chest. You can feel his heartbeat, the rhythmic pump of it under your palm. “Together. Breathe.”

“If you want to do this together then don’t you need to feel mine too?” You question, because isn’t that the point of all this?

Neteyam’s ears twitch at your query, and if you didn’t know any better you’d think you’d felt his breath hitch. For what reason, you don’t know.

“Right. Yes,” he agrees and moves his hand through the water closer to you, but he falters.

You furrow your brows at that, jut out your lip, because if he’s forcing you to do all this then the least he can do is cooperate right along with you. Sighing, you grab his hand and place it to your chest, palm to heart just like you are to him. The only difference is his hand has one finger less than you, a fact that mentally makes you grimace. A reminder that will ever be engraved in your soul.

He nods to you after sitting in this fixed position for a moment before he begins to suck in a breath. You mirror him directly, correspond with his inspirations and let your chest rise as you feel his do so beneath your palm. You’re doing well on that aspect, matching him breath for breath. It’s such an easy thing when your head’s above water, you wish it would translate just as well when it’s below.

“Okay,” Neteyam speaks up after a few minutes, “Now, try it with your head under.”

You’re a little apprehensive at the suggestion despite being at the shallow end of shore where you can simply stand up whenever you feel like it, and the trepidation must relay wholly on your face, because Neteyam squeezes the hand you still have placed to his chest.

“I’ll do it with you. It will be easy.”

“Ha, easy,” you mumble, let your eyes roll at his valor. Everything is just so easy for everyone else, isn’t it. “Right.”

But still, you find yourself taking in deeper breaths right along with him as you get ready to dip your head below the tide, trusting Neteyam with anything he extends to you. Because he’s never given you a reason not to, has he? He’s always made sure to do his best to keep you out of risky situations, or do everything he can to get you out of them when you found yourself to venture into one unknowingly.

You trust him because he’s proven to you over and over again that he’ll do nothing but look out for you, and a part of you thinks that’s a rather frightening prospect all on its own.

There’s a moment of shared eye contact, an understanding as each of you take one more breath, then you lower your head and allow yourself to be enveloped fully by the ocean. You’d think after diving and riding on the backs of ilus you’d feel more at ease already, have less anxiety about it all. But your chest still hurts just as much now as it ever has, and every second you spend below water has you reeling.

You know when it’s getting the best of you not by feeling it yourself, but by the tapping of Neteyam’s fingers against your chest as he points out your heart rate. It needs to be slow, you know this. It needs to match his, you’re aware.

But it’s hard. It’s hard for you to overcome this and no one seems to be getting that. It’s a feeling that closes in on you and suffocates you–literally and figuratively. You want to just get over it but you can’t. You can’t.

“I can’t do this,” you assert as you break out of the water with a sharp inhale and rise onto your feet. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

Neteyam reaches for your arm as he stands up himself, water dripping down his face. “You can–“

“No I can’t, Neteyam!” You bite back. “You don’t understand, it’s too much. I can’t do it.”

Suddenly, his hands are on your shoulders, turning you around and forcing you to meet his eyes. He holds you steady, keeps you rooted as you catch the breath you hadn’t even realized you were actually gasping for. The waves slosh against your legs and you focus on the pale green flecks in Neteyam’s irises in an attempt to calm yourself down. They remind you of the petals on the outlandish flowers from the forest; from home. Something about that helps to level you.

“You can,” he expounds, gives you no gateway to disagree. “You can do this. We can do this. Together.”

Together, he says. Hand in hand, step by step–he is always so insistent on it being together. So adamant that you are not set aside, left to your own devices in an off chance of.. what, exactly? Does he persist on such an ideal so one does not merely feel alone, or is it solely to put his own mind at ease, allow his own soul to rest easy at the proclamation.

Perhaps, you think, your father has done too well on pushing that morale onto his eldest son. Together, he inclines. Together, he reiterates. Like it’s vital you remember it, you embrace it, welcome it. Does he feel such a devotion to the cause for everyone? Or, you wonder..

Your breathing, slowly but surely, begins to settle into normal intakes once again. Your heart rate draws back on its racing in your chest. You let Neteyam’s hands slide from your shoulders to your palms, let him glide his fingertips over your own until he’s leading you back from the step away you had taken.

“One more try, alright?”

And as he pulls you down to where you’re seated once again with your chin being licked by the salty tide, you nod.

You trust him, and you try again.

After what you can only describe as endless hours of grueling water exposure training at the hands of an overtly cruel Neteyam (which really translates to just over an hour of him gently coaxing you to stay longer and longer underwater until you feel somewhat comfortable with the idea), you find yourself sitting with Tsireya along the shore.

She’s teaching you their sign language, the signals and gestures you’ll need to know in order to be able to communicate while underwater most effectively. You’d like to think of yourself as a relatively receptive person, but you must admit the whole learning a new language thing really proves itself to be considerably tricky.

Rotxo is a few yards away teaching the boys the signs. You aren’t sure if Neteyam proposed that idea just to watch Lo’ak suffer from not getting to be around Tsireya, or if it was because he actually wanted his younger brother to retain some real information instead of gawk, but a part of you is thankful for some form of girl time; even if it comes in the shape of a lesson.

The two of you are taking a break as you try to recall different signs on your own when you catch Tsireya staring at Lo’ak from afar. You’re partially thankful his back is to the two of you so you aren’t having to watch them drool back and forth, but you can’t lie and say that you don’t think it’s rather endearing that they’ve taken such an interest already.

“Lo’ak is sweet,” Tsireya says, out of the blue. And as you look over to her and catch her gaze, it almost appears as if she’s surprised herself at saying the thought out loud.

You smile warmly at her, because seeing her embarrassed is not something you’d really wish for. “Maybe to you,” you chuckle, shifting your regard down to the sand as you drag your finger through it. “He’s a pest.”

Her lips stretch widely at that, eyes crinkling gleefully at the corners. “In your eyes, I suppose I could see that.” Then she hums, looks to Lo’ak once more before directing her observance elsewhere. “He seems very curious. Willing to learn.”

Something churns in your gut. Guilt, maybe. Possibly conviction. You just nod your head at her statement.

“He’s willing to do a lot of things,” you abhor, though you don’t mean to sound so harsh. “He feels he doesn’t have a choice.” You lift your head to see the resignation on Tsireya’s face and instantly backpedal. “But with you it’s different. I can tell he likes learning all the things you teach us. You make him excited. To do things. You know.”

You hold your breath as you wait for her reaction and let it all whoosh out of you like a popped balloon when the smile cuts across her glowing face once more. When you notice the mood has once again lightened, you go back to drawing in the sand.

Tsireya hums again, and what leaves her saccharine lips next has you snapping your head up so fast you think you might have given yourself a mild case of whiplash.

“You think Neteyam is sweet, too. Do you not?”

You shift a little in the sand, crinkle your brows a bit at her statement. “I’m.. not sure what you mean.”

Neteyam is sweet, sure. He is nice, the most respectful Na’vi you know by a landslide. Sincere, bona fide; loyal through and through.

“Well, he has been helping you so frequently. Each time you are struggling he is always the first to step in, and you coordinate so well with one another. Harmonize so naturally. So I thought–“ As she takes in your confused expression, her eyes widen and she raises her hand to her mouth as if to stop herself. “Oh, I am so sorry, I seem to have misinterpreted. I didn’t mean to overstep, I–“

“It’s okay,” you wave her off, showcase an easy smile to put her worries to rest even as heat starts to pool into the apples of your cheeks. “Don’t even worry about it.”

She offers up an apologetic smile of her own before turning her attention back to the sand to draw another motion that you can add to your silent vocabulary, getting back to the lesson to steer from the awkwardness–a safe bet. But you find your eyes drifting over to the boy who’s just been brought into question.

Neteyam has always been in your corner, by your side, just as you’ve been with him. He has always been your favorite person to be around, that you are willing to admit readily. That is something easy to confirm the sentiment of.

But as he catches you staring, flashes you a lopsided grin before he’s getting scolded to focus by Rotxo, something new flips in your gut that you try your very best to ignore.

Something rippling.

When you want to clear your head, you always find yourself going directly to Kiri.

It doesn’t even need to involve talking or venting to her about what has you on edge (though both of you do your fair share of that, as well), but simply being in her presence has a way of putting you at ease. Relaxing your mind in a way that you will always welcome.

This time is no different. The two of you may not have your own secret hideout carved into the side of a hollow tree trunk anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find your own place here.

You’re on a semi-secluded strip of the beach. It’s calming, sitting in the water and letting it lap across your thighs and against your waist as you watch Kiri float near the surface. She likes it here, or at the very least likes seeing all the wonders the ocean can hold. It does your heart well, being able to witness her finding a bit of happiness, a morsel of contentment in a time such as this.

She’s probably the only one who you think matches your level of irritability about the situation you’ve all been thrown in, even if you haven’t directly voiced it. And you know very well she is the only one who comes even remotely close to feeling the heartache you harbor over the capture of your brother.

The two of you have always been easy to connect on things like that, and for that you are forever grateful. Besides, if you yourself cannot find comfort, you’re glad she seems to be able to seek it out wherever she goes, even if it’s for just a few moments.

Which is evidently all you’re destined for–a few moments–as drifting voices approach you that do not sound the least bit pleasant.

“What is she doing?” There’s laughs, snickers, and you shoot a look over your shoulder to see Ao’nung with his little group of cronies approaching the two of you. Distaste pools on the tip of your tongue, unease bubbling up your throat.

You keep your eyes on them as you try to warn your sister. “Kiri, get up.”

They’re closer now, practically standing over the top of you, their shadows dimming the warmth of the sun you were just enjoying in peace a moment ago. “She’s just looking at the sand,” one of them belittles, pokes fun. Your jaw clenches.

This time, you reach for Kiri as you address her, pull at her arm so she’s aware of what looms over her, because like hell are you going to let her sit here and be a victim to whatever immature charade these guys are playing at.

“Huh?” She asks as she raises up out of the water, wiping at her eyes and blinking to clear her vision. “What’d you say?”

You open your mouth to speak, tell her the two of you should just go find somewhere else to hang out, but you don’t get the chance to voice that.

“Are you some kind of..” Ao’nung falters, pretends to be thinking, then practically lets his intention drip off his tongue like venom. “Freak?”

And his friend doesn’t miss a beat, tittering as he joins in. “He asked if you are a freak.”

Pulling Kiri up as you stand yourself, a sneer carves its way into the mold of your lips. She scoffs lightly and rolls her eyes. “No,” she grumbles at the connotation, letting you lead her through a gap in the group to walk away.

But it seems all for naught, as they simply step right into your path once again to block you from going anywhere. You’re growing more and more irritated by the second because, honestly, if they can’t stand your family so much, why don’t they just leave you alone?

“Are you sure?” Ao’nung presses, getting right in her face. “I mean, you’re not even real Na’vi.” He grabs at her hands before she can move away, holds them disparagingly, a derisive expression painted across his features. “Look at these hands. I mean look at them.”

The hiss that shrieks through your fangs is instant as you step between them, pry Kiri’s hands out of his slimy grasp and try your hardest to halfway shield her behind you. (Not that that is really an exceedent help, given you’re currently surrounded). Spewing sordid insults out at you and your family is one thing, though you want to wring his scaly little neck for that alone, but physically laying his hands on your sister?

You’ve done your best to try to keep peace, be good for your parents’ sake–bite your tongue and fold your hands like a proper daughter should. But you think you might be reaching your limit.

You’re about to attempt to brush past them one last time–your last stitch effort to break away from this idiotic ambush once and for all to get you and your sister some privacy, but something jerks at you. There are hands wrapped around your tail, tugging at it as guffaws sound around you, like it’s all just some kind of game. You realize to them, it is.

“Ha! Look at her little baby tail.”

“Get your hands off of me,” you bark at the culprit, shove at him and yank your tail out of his grasp. It isn’t a pleasant feeling, being prodded like this, being goaded. It feels invasive, violating. You hate this so much and you just want them to leave you alone.

You don’t understand their wish for a feud when a feud is the last thing you and your family want. Bickering and fighting and being at odds will solve nothing. In fact, all it will do is get you in trouble during the one time where you’re already walking on eggshells every single day as is. Do they not understand how hard this is on your family? Do they not care?

Is belligerence the only thing they are capable of?

“Hey!” It’s Lo’ak, who tears the scrutiny off you and your sister as he strides over, right up to Ao’nung in order to get him away from the both of you. “Back off fish legs.”

“Oh,” he chuckles, levels your brother with a look. “Another four fingered freak.”

His friends push and jab at him, causing him to wheel in all directions to shove them away too. “Don’t touch me,” he warns, wavers. You’re so over this.

Kiri arbitrates, but they don’t listen. “Leave us alone.” It falls on deaf ears.

“Get away from us!” you call out; more forward, less refined. You figure you can leave the diplomacy to your sister, since you find it hard not to be blunt in situations such as this where the offending party can’t seem to get the hint through their overly thick skulls.

You’re still doing your best to shield Kiri with an arm out in front of her–in any other situation you might have laughed at how you’re currently standing like your mother. Now though, nothing about this is funny. Just as you’re about to reach for Lo’ak in an attempt to get him away from their bullying too, Neteyam comes to the scene.

He looks pissed, braids swinging with every stomp of his feet as he stalks up and abruptly shoves Ao’nung back away from the three of you. “You heard what they said. Leave them alone,” he snaps before he’s getting closer, finger pointed at Ao’nung threateningly enough it even has you on edge. He pokes him in the chest, punctuates his demands. “Back. Off. Now.”

The air turns static, and to your surprise, Ao’nung listens. He holds his hands up in faux style surrender, and though he still has a mocking look on his face, it is clear he’s heeding directly to Neteyam’s commands. A part of you wonders if it’s simply because Neteyam is the oldest, if he chooses to resonate with him on that because he used to once be an heir himself. But mostly you think it’s just because Ao’nung is actually scared shitless of him, which you find twice as enjoyable.

“Smart choice,” Neteyam acknowledges as the chief’s son takes a step back, sends a warning look across the entire group. “And from now on, I need you to respect my family.”

One of Ao’nung’s friends hisses before getting signaled back by the former. You roll your eyes at the shrill and Kiri sticks out tongue.

“Let’s go,” Neteyam mutters, redirects Lo’ak with a hand to the head and Kiri with a nudge to the shoulders.

You can still hear them all behind you, snickering to themselves and making demeaning comments about the lot of you as Neteyam places his hand on your back to guide you away with the rest of them. You’re more than willing to just drop it, ignore them and swallow down the hurt their words and actions caused like you have always done, like it was nothing more than a bite of tart fruit. Just another tally to the list of your flaws.

But Lo’ak seems to not share that mindset with you.

His faltering to a stop has you doing the same, turning your attention to him and attempting to step over and reach for his arm to continue tugging him along. Before you can, though, he’s already turning right around. Walking right back to the group you were just saved from.

“Lo’ak,” Neteyam calls after him, his tone dripping in apprehension.

Lo’ak raises a calming hand to the three of you. “I got this, bro,” he reassures, but it does nothing to ease the pins and needles you suddenly feel in the soles of your feet. He steps right up to Ao’nung and holds up his hand, like he’s putting it on display. “I know this hand is funny. Look, I’m a freak. Alien.”

The group laughs under their breaths at him, sharing judging looks with each other. You don’t understand why you have such an odd feeling about this, and you have no idea what he’s getting at by subjecting himself to it.

“But it can do something really cool. Watch,” he instructs, and to your surprise Ao’nung actually has his full attention on your brother’s hand. “First, I ball it up real tight like this, okay? Then–”

In the split second that you blink, there’s a crack, a grunt. Your mouth drops open as you see Lo’ak’s fist come in contact directly with Ao’nung’s face. But it isn’t just once, or twice. Lo’ak gets three solid hits in before Ao’nung falls back on his ass into the water.

“It’s called a punch, bitch!” Lo’ak spits. “Don’t ever touch my sisters again.”

After that, all hell breaks loose. Ao’nung surges forward and tackles Lo’ak to the ground. They immediately start scrapping, throwing each other on and off and swinging at whatever they can get into contact with. The other boys jump in, all target locked on your brother. You’re contemplating stepping in and breaking it up somehow.

You look to Neteyam to see if he’s thinking the same, if he’s running through ways to possibly diffuse the situation as well. But as soon as you glance up and catch sight of the fed up slant to his lips, his tongue poking at the inside of his cheek as he tilts his head to the side, your stomach drops.

“Neteyam don’t,” you plead, attempting to pull him back to stop him but he just barely weasels out of your grasp. Voice straining with frustration, you shout after him. “Neteyam!”

He throws himself into the fight head on, socking the first guy who tries to come at him and instantly kneeing the next. Your hands fly to your face, dragging down it as you think to yourself that this literally cannot possibly be happening right now. Stupid, stupid boys.

“Stop it,” Kiri groans at your side, “Stop it! You’re so stupid.”

“This is so childish!” You yell, too–reiterating her point. “You’re all gonna get in trouble.”

The pair of you watch, exasperated. There’s nothing you can do (because you sure as hell aren’t jumping in the middle of that just to get a black eye) so you turn to your sister. You stare at each other for a moment, hear the cries and complaints of your brother and his rivals, and suddenly laughs are bubbling out of each of your lips at the bewilderment of it all.

The two of you simply stand there and wait, snickering at the idiotic display while you wait for the trouble you warned them of to inevitably come.

And come the trouble does.

You follow at a safe distance as Jake ushers his two slightly beaten and busted up sons to your family’s home. He shoves them inside and you wait outside, leaning against the side of the hut just out of sight as you listen in. You hear him begin to scold them, ask them what his one wish was on the matter of coming here.

Guilt pools deep in your gut as most of the heat is directed to Lo’ak, despite Neteyam’s (unsuccessful) effort to take the blame off his brother’s shoulders. You listen as your brother justifies himself, tells Jake he was simply standing up for you and Kiri, explains what Ao’nung and his friends were saying about you.

Irritation seeps into your skin when you hear your father tell him to go apologize. You don’t think it’s fair–he did nothing wrong, he isn’t the one at fault here. If anything, Ao’nung should be apologizing to him, not the other way around. You watch as Lo’ak storms out of the hut, sparing you a glimpse as he passes, but offering nothing else. You want to apologize to him, you can’t help but feel he deserves that. But you have a bone to pick first.

Neteyam’s footsteps sound close to the exit, so you get ready to move. Before he steps out, though, your father stops him. “Hey,” and it’s softer, than his tone was just moments ago, “So, what’d the other guys look like?”

You want to scoff at the question. Or maybe the audacity of it, given the circumstances.

“Worse,” Neteyam answers him quietly, truthfully.

There’s a pause. You can’t see your father’s face but you can imagine the look he’s giving right now. “That’s good,” he affirms.

Neteyam seems to pick up on the approval in his timbre, because you hear a breathy laugh from him before he adds, “A lot worse.”

He’s told to get out at that, Jake’s way of telling him not to push his luck, if you had to guess. He seems so preoccupied that he doesn’t even register you standing by the entrance, walking right past you. So, you take quick steps forward to follow him.

“A lot worse,” you copy him, hoping the mockery comes across as heavy as you want it to. His focus flits to you, eyes a little wide as if you caught him the slightest bit off guard. You couldn’t care less about that. “Do you know how dumb that sounds?”

“What?” he asks, stops walking to face you as his brows (or the shape of what brows would be) knead together. “What do you mean?”

Conflicted, that’s how you’d describe yourself right now. Maybe it’s because you’re still cut open from what Ao’nung and his friends had said, maybe it’s the guilt eating away at you from indirectly being the reason Lo’ak has to apologize to them. Whatever it is, it has you acting a little arbitrary.

“You shouldn’t have jumped in the fight, Neteyam,” you state–scold, in a haphazard sense. And it’s something you’d feel the need to say even without being at war with yourself. “It was stupid.”

“Stupid?” He levels you with a look, disbelieving, almost. You don’t like the way it makes you feel. “I was standing up for my family. For you.”

“I can stand up for myself,” you retort, and it tastes bitter on your tongue. This wasn’t how you wanted the conversation to shift, you weren’t meaning to sound so vindictive. You blow out a breath. “Besides, it’s not like I’m not used to it. I can handle it.”

And Neteyam, despite your enmity, drops every bit of his guard. “But you shouldn’t–”

“It’s fine,” you intervene before he can finish, because pity is not what you were trying to get out of this. You just want him to be aware, that he doesn’t have to fight and get himself in trouble for the sake of you. Studying his face for a moment, you sigh. “Anyways, you should probably go get something for your lip.”

Before he can say anything else you avert your eyes and walk off, mind already reeling.

Your fingers hurt.

This has taken you far longer than you thought it would and you’re thankful you’re on the last bead because the sun is merely a sliver over the horizon now, meaning you’re running out of light to see since your foolish self did not bring a source with you. Something about the sea beads on hand here feel different to work with compared to the wooden ones you’re used to. The change in texture is obvious, but it’s like using these is more taxing than the ones from home. You’re grateful to Tsireya for giving them to you, yet you still wish you had packed some before you’d left. It’s too late to have remorse over something like that, though, so you push the thought from your mind.

There is one thought that you can’t seem to shake, however.

Guilt has a funny way of trying to swallow you whole. It has you locked in its jaws even now, as you tie off the piece you are creating and hold it up to admire your handiwork. The very cause for the making of this necklace in the first place is guilt, followed ever so closely by gratitude. You hope it conveys that, proves to mean that much when it’s out of your hands and in the ones of whom it’s intended to belong.

It’s a highly acknowledged value in Na’vi culture that making one's own jewelry and clothing, or gifting such things to others directly, is an.. intimate gesture. Not necessarily in the definitive sense, but more so in the meaning that it is just not something one takes lightly, not a sentiment meant to be discarded.

You must respect the things people gift unto you that they have made with their own hands; may Eywa bless their labor. Neytiri taught you that when you were young, when she gave you your first bracelet. You still have it, even now, because such a thing does not leave you in your first lifetime or the next. Hope creeps into your bones that it holds up for you now.

A light sweeps over you from behind, a narrow beam that has you squinting as you look over your shoulder. The only people here who would have a flashlight would be your family, and given the lack of taunting or lecturing accompanying it, there’s just one person who it could be.

“Should you have that? You’d get in trouble if you got caught, you know,” you tell him as you turn back around, stare at the star sprinkled ocean.

“Ah, srankehe,” [“more or less”] Neteyam waves off as he sits down about a foot away from you. You can feel his eyes on you, hear the smile in his voice. “How much more trouble could I get in after today?”

“Right,” you respond with a ghost of a chuckle. You turn to him, peer at him through the blanketed dark. “How’s your lip?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” His tone takes a dip, and for a second you grow concerned. “They said I have to get them cut off, they’re unsalvageable. Yes, completely busted up to shreds. Shame.”

Every drop of worry rushes out of your body instantly and you reach across the small distance separating the two of you. He laughs as you shove him, flashes the light in your face as a little bit of payback. Then, the light drifts over your hand, goes back and does a double sweep, only stopping once it’s pointed directly on what you almost forgot you were still holding in it.

“What’s this?” Neteyam asks, immediately scooting closer and cautiously reaching for the necklace. He holds it in his hand so delicately, runs his fingers over the beads like it’s the most fragile thing he’s ever seen. “Did you make this?”

The building anxiety becomes just a smidgen too much as he looks over at you, so you turn your attention down to the beaded item in his hand.

“Yeah,” you nod, bite the inside of your cheek as you brush your finger against the accent shell you placed in the middle. “Yeah, it’s for you.”

That seems to take him aback, has him pausing for a moment. “You made it for me?”

You nod again. Your tongue suddenly feels like lead in the bottom of your mouth. You feel stupid, this seems silly. Part of you wants to yank it out of his hands and yell just kidding! before you risk embarrassing yourself within the next few moments. You try to choose your words wisely.

“I wanted to say sorry, for earlier. I shouldn’t have told you not to fight, that’s not my place. And I really am grateful for you standing up for me. I just.. I don’t want you getting scolded because of me. I don’t want to be the reason you get in trouble. So, I’m sorry, Neteyam. Ngaytxoa.” [“My deepest apologies.”]

He’s looking at you again, you can tell. There’s an odd bevel in his tone when he queries, “So you made this as an apology? Because you feel guilty?”

“Yes,” you confirm, verify as you find the courage to meet his gaze, but you redial too, “Well, and as a thank you.”

“A thank you?” He tips his head like he’s truly perplexed, and you wonder how he doesn’t already know why you’re grateful for him, why you’ve used every ounce of your appreciation in the fashioning of this lavalliere.

“You deserve one.” A knot slides up into your throat, chokes you up as you address him now. You do your best to work past it. “You’ve helped me through so much since coming here. You’ve been patient with me and–and you’ve stepped in whenever I needed you. You’ve done everything you can to help me. I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that. How grateful I am for you.”

That last part slips out of you before you can think much about it, but once it rolls off your tongue you can’t help but realize just how true it is. You are exceedingly thankful for Neteyam not just for what he’s done, but for who he is. Your heart holds a permanent room for him, and you think he has the right to know that.

For a few painstaking moments, Netayam just looks at you. Like he’s mulling over everything you’ve just said, like he’s processing it to the utmost ability. You’re almost on the verge of regret, thinking maybe you’ve crossed some line drawn in the sand that you were not previously aware of. That is, until there’s a twitch at the corner of his lips.

“Do I have to put it on myself?”

The smile that starts to mirror from his face to yours is inevitable, but you hook your fang on the corner of your lip in a sorry attempt to not beam so widely anyways. You raise onto your knees as you take the necklace from him, to make it easier to face him. Neteyam’s eyes never leave your face as you focus on gently looping the necklace over his head. Once it’s on, you slide your fingers behind his neck–delicately, carefully–lifting his braids out of the way so that it can fall properly into place. You’re slow on pulling away, drifting your fingers down the slick, sea glass beadwork until they find the middle shell. You take this time to straighten it, make sure it’s laying properly against his chest.

Just as you go to pull your hands away, Neteyam’s own come up to keep them held to his chest. Your gaze flits up, dares to meet his. On your knees like this you’re looking down on him, an occurrence that usually is the other way around. His eyes are glistening, shining. There are constellations illuminated across his cheeks, his nose. You think you’d like to map them.

“Irayo fìxtan,” [“Thank you so much.”] he murmurs, soft and low as his thumb rubs over your knuckles. His expression is so warm, so earnest. It suddenly feels very hard to breathe, and that feeling from before, when you were with Tsireya, is happening again. “Irayo fìxtan, Ma (Y/n).”

There’s a shift, a tilt of an axis. Something changes, in this very moment; something far from trivial but so close to uncharted. It is unknown to you what this all means, what this entails.

What changes?

You open your mouth to speak, but even you aren’t sure what you will say. Part of you wants to change the subject, nerves tend to plague you and make you want to veer from such things, but the rest of you, well. You think you might have truly settled on something to say, something to voice, now.

But someone’s hesitant footsteps approaching has your attention faltering, causes you to look to your left where you find Ao’nung walking up with a look on his face that has your stomach twisting. And when you thought that was bad enough, the words that leave his lips make you forget anything you were planning to mutter.

“There’s a problem.. with Lo’ak.”

#in the sand and in the stars #avatar x reader #neteyam #neteyam sully x reader #neteyam x reader #avatar fanfiction #neteyam sully #atwow neteyam #atwow x reader

451 notes · View notes

namorslutfanfiction · 2 years ago

Note

Fic request! Something soft and fluffy? Like Namor is relaxing for once and letting himself be a bit soft and gentle 🥺

Thank you for the request! This is perfect to start me off.

Namor x Reader

Summary: Namor goes to visit the children of Talokan and his favorite teacher.

I don't want to disrespect Yucatec Mayan and this would almost certainly have to have the dialogue be completely translated. So I will write in English to avoid any mistranslations.

The children noticed the King swimming by their class as you taught them. You bowed slightly to the King who waved you off and mouthed for you to finish your lesson. You finished showing the children the type of net weaving style you were demonstrating then dismissed them.

The children all let out screams and laughs as they swam up to the King, lifting their hands in a gesture of respect that resembled the open jaw of a megaladon.

"Your majesty, will you play ball with us again?" A young boy asked, taking Namor's hand and pulling him toward the open water near their classes alcove.

"I am still recovering but I can play for a bit, but you must help your teacher clean up after your class, alright?" Namor ruffled the child's hair, an affectionate smile appearing on his regal visage.

The child nodded excitedly and the rest of the kids followed him to clean up the remnants of their net weaving. You looked up as Namor swam to your side and nudged his shoulder against yours. He was dressed in a half cape and you noticed that one of his ankles was wrapped in bandages.

"I see that the children still love you despite your tedious lessons," Namor teased.

"K'uk'ulkan, come sit. I heard you were injured," You guide him into a seat before he can protest. You're at his feet examining the bandage around his ankle. "Did she really rip off your wing? Do you think it will grow back? Does it still hurt? I can make some of the balm you liked the last time that shark took a bit of your thigh if you like?"

You rattled off question after question as you took his ankle into your hands. Namor looked down at you fondly then reached forward to cup your cheek with his hand, "I am alright. I promise. It will grow back. It was a small price to pay to know that we have a strong ally and Talokan and our people are safe; to know that you are safe."

You looked up at him, seeing the care in his eyes and feeling the warmth of his hand on your skin. Your worries melted away as you stood and he pulled you into his arms by your waist. He rested his head against your chest, heaving a sigh of relief.

You wrapped an arm across his shoulders, pressing him closer. Your hand found his hair and massaged his scalp. He leaned in deeper and you stood strong and reliant as he gripped you firmly. You stood together for awhile, resting in each other's embrace.

"Hearing your heart beat is all the balm I need," Namor nuzzled your neck slightly. You pulled away and looked down at him, his eyes looked tired but had a spark of relief in them.

"I was worried about you, my king," You admitted, running a finger over his brow gently, dragging it down to the tip of his nose. You traced his lip and he kissed your finger.

"Will you keep your promise once the alliance with Wakanda is finalized? Will you become my queen?" He spoke in a soft, hopeful tone.

"We will see," You teased, finally pulling away. But Namor pulled you back into his arms.

"Don't tease me, my love," he smiled and stole a chaste kiss that made you giggle.

"Hush, what if the children see?" You half-heartedly tried to break free from his embrace.

"The children know by now; they see me visit you nearly every day," Namor bear hugged you, nuzzling your cheek with his nose.

"K'uk'ulkan, we finished cleaning!" The boy from earlier appeared to their right followed by the rest of the children. The rest of the little boys and girls broke out in giggles as they watched their teacher wriggle out of the king's embrace.

"That is exactly the prompt response I expect from my future general," Namor addressed the original little boy causing him to puff up his chest in pride.

"Will you come play with us now?" The boy asked with a pleading look.

"Yes, I always keep my word," the children cheered and gathered their things and headed toward the clearing.

"Please take it easy, my king," You said as you helped him remove his cloak so he could play with the children. You tried to ignore the quickening of your heartbeat as more of his skin was exposed.

"Like what you see, my love? You're blushing," Namor whispered after turning around to find you flustered, "After I play with the children, I can play with you. I promise."

Namor swam off with a rogueish smirk on his lips. You watched him swim away with a pleasant fluttering in your stomach, looking forward to him keeping his promise.

////

So there we go! Hope you like it! The first of hopefully many more!

#namor #namor x reader #namor x oc #namorslutfanfiction #namorfanfic #namor of talokan #fluff

450 notes · View notes

kirislovelygf · 2 years ago

Text

know who you are, part 1 (kiri x fem! metkayina reader)

contents: fighting, blood, confessions, kiri helping patch up reader after fight, confessions, kissing, fluff, happy gfs

wrd count: 2.9k

a/n: THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for all the love shown on my other stories, i absolutely adore seeing how much you guys enjoy them. hugs and kisses for everyone 🫶🏽

part two here !!

̩͙✧ ₊˚. ೃ

y/n and her brother, ao’nung, were hanging out with his best friend, rotxo, when the sully family arrived out of the blue.

she walked behind her brother and spotted the dark blue skinned na’vi. she tried to look at them closer out of curiosity once they were on the beach with them but ao’nung slapped the back of head to stop her.

“ow!”

“don’t go near them.” he scolded. she mocked him and went to stand by his side.

she she looked toward them again, she spotted a pretty girl her age, studying the village persons while tugging a fishnet around her.

y/n smiled softly before kiri turned to spot her. her expression softened but she quickly looked away when a tsurak flew over the family.

they ducked in fear and looked over to see it was y/n’s father, chief tonowari.

he landed in the water and cautiously made his way toward the family while still walking with pride.

they talked for a while, ronal insulted the family, ao’nung made fun of them, but y/n was too distracted to pay attention.

she didn’t even pay attention when her mother started to insult the children, calling them demons and showing off their disfigurements.

well, she didn’t until she caught a glimpse of kiri’s face.

they calmed down and tonowari managed to convince ronal to let them stay.

and he later assigned his children to teaching the newcomers children how to swim and live in the water.

“this is ao’nung, tsireya, and my youngest, y/n.” he said proudly.

“thank you. thank you- uh, this is my son neteyam, kiri, our daughter..” jake sully pointed to kiri.

y/n smiled at her and kiri shyly returned it.

“my son lo’ak, and our youngest daughter tuk.” he patted tuk’s head gently and she smiled brightly.

tsireya offered to help take their things to their new home and y/n was about to go with her.

tonowari held her back for a moment though, with a stern look.

“i will only tell you this once. be nice and do not cause trouble.”

she sighed with irritation.

“i mean it.”

“you always assume the worst of me, father-“

“y/n.”

“okay! okay, fine. i promise.” she shrugged. he nods and sends her off to help the family.

the second y/n turned around, she rolled her eyes with the most annoyed face any teenager could make.

she made her way to kiri’s ikran, watching the creature with caution.

“hi.. uh, i’m y/n.” she said to kiri.

“i know. nice to meet you.” kiri nodded.

“here, i can help.” y/n took a heavy bag filled with kiri’s extra clothes and accessories from her hand.

kiri smiled softly. “thank you.”

“follow us. we’ll take you to your new home.” she nodded.

they walk across the woven bounds walkways to an empty marui. kiri hesitated while entering the marui, seeing how different it was to her old home.

“do you not like it?” y/n asked kiri.

“it’s okay. just very different:” kiri shrugged,

“you will get used to it soon. uh, where should i put this?” she asked kiri.

kiri shrugs and looks around the little corners in the marui. they settled on one and they put kiri’s stuff down.

“i should go. we’ll be in the reef later for your lessons. i’ll see you there, right?” y/n asked, trying to hide her excitement.

“yeah. sure.” kiri shrugs, not looking up.

y/n frowned a bit. she didn’t want kiri to be disappointed with her new home.

“i know you probably miss your old home but you’re going to love it here in the reef.” she said to her quietly.

kiri looks up at her. “i hope so.”

y/n smiled and left the marui after briefly greeting kiri’s parents. she followed her sister to the beach near the coral reefs.

her and her siblings and rotxo waited around on the beach for the children to arrive.

“i can’t believe we got stuck with the forest freaks.” ao’nung grumbled.

“shut up!” y/n snapped while sitting atop a boulder.

he glared at his sister. “how would you like if you moved to a whole new place and the kids there made fun of you?” she grumbled.

“well, it’s not me, so who cares.” ao’nung muttered.

“hey, she’s right.” tsireya scolded.

“whatever. this whole thing sucks.” he muttered to rotxo.

he laughed quietly when the silly kids arrived.

“hi!” tsireya greeted.

they all waved and mutter quiet greeting while tuk was so eager to say hi to them.

they told the kids about the reef and the animals that lived within it and the metkayina friends didn’t think twice about diving into the water.

the group swam into the open waters with animals and coral making their home shine with color and beauty.

as they swam deeper and deeper, closer to the ocean floor, they noticed the omaticaya kids kept floating near the surface.

y/n looked over at her friend, rotxo.

“what’s wrong with them?” he signed.

y/n simply shrugged and looked back up at them.

tsireya signed to them, “come swim with us.”

they held out theirs hands with confused faces and y/n couldn’t help but laugh.

as she stared up at them, she noticed that kiri wasn’t with the two older boys and her little sister.

the friends swam up to the surface to talk to them.

“what’s wrong? are you tired?” y/n asked them.

“you’re too fast. wait for us!” tuk whined, wiping her face and breathing heavily.

“aw!” y/n muttered.

ao’nung and rotxo caught up with his sisters.

“you are not good divers.” ao’nung said.

“maybe good at swimming through trees, but..”

tsireya slapped the back of his head before he could continue.

“you’re just not used to it. we’ll teach you how to swim like us.” y/n said to them.

“alright but what’s this.. finger talk? we don’t know what you’re saying.” neteyam asked, waving his fingers.

“sign language. we can teach you that too.” tsireya said to him.

“wait, guys, where’s kiri?” rotxo asked the group.

her brother started to look around them.

“kiri?”

“where’s kiri?”

y/n looked around the surface and kiri wasn’t anywhere there. she dived into the water and swam to the coral reefs near the village.

she found kiri swimming with an ilu and smiling while petting it.

y/n smiled at how pretty she looked and swam closer to her.

once she approached her, she waved her hand to grab her attention. she waved her hand, gesturing to kiri for her to follow her and the two girls swam back up to the surface.

“i found her. she’s okay.” y/n breathed out once they were with the rest of the group.

the kids ended up spending the days together, teaching them to hold their breath, teaching them sign language, and about the animals and how to ride them.

y/n’s crush on kiri grew larger by the day, and so did kiri’s.

one day, kiri wanted to be on her own. not in a lonely, depressing, no-one-likes-me way.

in a cute aesthetic alone girly way. she laid in the shallow waters by the beach, facing down and watching the crabs hide under the sand.

when ao’nung and some of his friends were wandering around the beach, they found kiri in her position.

kiri was entranced by the animals until the bullies came to ruin it. she heard them say something and lifted her head up to see who was saying things.

“hm? did you say something?” she asked kindly, standing up to look at them properly.

ao’nung’s smirk grew. “are you some kind of.. freak?” he asked.

his other friend continued teasing. “he asked if you were a freak.”

the others laughed under their breaths.

kiri scoffs. “no..”

she tried walking past them but they surrounded her.

“are you sure? i mean, you’re not even real na’vi.” ao’nung chuckled.

“just look at your hands.” he pointed to kiri’s hand.

kiri tried ignoring them but they wouldn’t get out of her way.

ao’nung then got a hold of her hand. “i mean, look at them!” he laughed tauntingly.

kiri glared at the boy and snatched her hand back. they started making fun of her other attributes before her brother come up to the beach to tell them to back up.

y/n had just finished hunting and was making her way down the beach, from the far side of the village.

then she saw her brother and his friends pulling lo’ak’s tail and pushing him around, calling the siblings names. she grew incredibly furious.

she dropped her things on the sand and rushed over.

she pushed her brother off of lo’ak.

“what’s wrong with you?” she scolded.

“y/n, go home. we’re just having some fun.” he said, rolling his eyes.

“it doesn’t look like they’re having fun.” she responded.

she turned to look at kiri. “are you okay? are you?” she asked lo’ak.

lo’ak scoffs and steps away from the friends to stand by kiri.

“we’re fine.” kiri said.

“listen to your big brother, little girl.” one of ao’nung’s friends said. he shoved her shoulder and she glared at him.

“don’t touch me.” she hissed

“what are you going to do? cry?” he teased, pushing her once more.

“you’re friends with these freaks now?” another asked y/n.

ao’nung stepped in. “alright that’s enough.” he shoved them away from his sister.

he looks down at her. “just go home. you’ll probably make things worse for us anyways.”

she rolls her eyes. she looks at the siblings who were now joined by neteyam, who was out swimming and heard all the yelling before coming to see them.

“come on. let’s get you home.” y/n sighed out,

they started to walk off the beach with y/n behind them and the friends started taunting the siblings as they walked away.

y/n heard all the hurtful things coming out of ao’nung’s mouth and was disappointed. she had looked up to him her whole life and then she finds out that this is the kind of boy he wants to be.

“she’s a freak just like that one.”

y/n sighs and turned around. the one who most annoyed her was the friend that looked like rotxo. but was uglier.

“what’d you say?” she slowly made her way to the boy.

“i said you’re. a. fre-“

before he could finish, y/n threw her fist into the boy’s jaw, making him stumble backward, and then another time. this time and uppercut to the chin, making him fall over.

she shook her hand a bit, feeling her knuckles pulse from hitting him so hard. she looked down and her knuckles were bright red.

“y/n!” a stern voice called out. y/n paused in fear and glanced over to see her father charging over to the group.

they all tried shuffling to get out of tonowari’s way before he looked at the scene in front of him.

the boy’s nose was bleeding and was being held by his friend and the siblings were watching in fear, amusement, and admiration.

in that order. neteyam was scared for y/n, lo’ak thought she was the coolest person ever, and kiri didn’t know whether she wanted to be her or be with her.

“we’re going home.” he said quietly. he stepped aside and y/n started walking down the beach while holding her fist in her other hand.

as y/n walked past kiri, she smiled softly at her before continuing.

once the father and daughter were in their marui, he didn’t waste any time in scolding her.

“what did i tell you? hm?” he asked.

she sighed. “do not cause trouble.”

“but you go ahead and cause trouble anyway.” he grumbled.

she kept her eyes down at her feet, still holding her fist in her other hand.

“you are constantly disobeying my orders. what am i going to do with you?” he sighed angrily.

“father, ao’nung and his friends were making fun of kiri and her family. i was defending them. i didn’t-”

“that doesn’t mean you can hit people. ” he said angrily.

she sighed and looks down.

“you will be punished. no riding your ilu for a month, do you understand?”he said, pointing his finger at her.

y/n looks down at her fist before up at her father again.

“yes, sir.”

tonowari nods leaves the marui for her to be on her own and y/n tries her best to scream quietly.

she didn’t want to be alone at home, so she left and went back to the beach to patch up her fist.

she was struggling the wrap the bandages around her hand and kept cleaning up blood so it would spill everywhere.

“need some help?” someone asked. y/n looks up and sees kiri’s head peeking out through large plants growing out of the sand.

“oh.. kiri, hi.” y/n smiled.

kiri walks over and sits with her legs crossed in front of y/n.

she helped clean the wound before slowly wrapping it.

“you punched that boy.. because of you? right?” kiri started.

“what?”

“you punched him because he called you a freak.” kiri repeated.

“no, i punched him because he called you a freak.” y/n said.

“you didn’t have to do that, you know.” kiri sighs.

“why?” y/n muttered.

“he’s right. i am a freak. you shouldn’t punch people because they’re right.” she said softly.

“kiri, he was not right. you are not a freak because you’re different.” y/n said.

kiri stays looking down at her hand.

“but i’m still different.”

“so? it’s good to be different. do you know how boring it would be if we were all the same?” y/n said, laughing slightly.

kiri laughs along too. she finished up with the bandages and turns y/n’s hand over so her palm is facing up.

“i think your hands are cool.” y/n said.

kiri looks at her with an amusing look. “what? really?”

y/n nods. kiri smiled and looked back down at their hands.

“and i also think it’s cute how you have small fangs.” y/n chuckled.

“that’s a weird compliment.” kiri said looking up.

“i mean what i say.” y/n shrugged.

kiri laughs slightly. “no one’s really said that to me before. my brothers usually make fun of my fangs.”

“why? you’re so cute.” y/n smiled.

kiri’s heart was pounding outside her chest. she never thought of herself as cute until y/n said something.

“you know you don’t have to say.. these things right? i know i’m weird,-“

“kiri, you are not weird. and you are not a freak.” y/n grumbled.

kiri’s eyes widened at her sudden change of tone, making y/n laugh softly.

“i know you think that because you’re born from a human that you’re weird and different and a freak but honestly?.. you’re really cool!”

“huh? how am i cool?” she laughed.

“well, first this hair. it’s so silky and thin.” her hand rose to kiri’s short hair and she fluffed it up and down.

“you don’t have to sit for hours having your hair braided, do you?” she asked kiri, taking her hand back.

“i guess not, but-“

“and your hands! come on, compared to yours, mine are more weird. look.” she put her hand up to kiri’s and they put their palms against each others.

kiri’s hand was slightly bigger with her pinky finger sticking out.

“and what are these? you have hair on your face.” y/n put her fingers up to kiri’s eyesbrows and she traced them with her thumbs on each hand.

“uh- okay, y/n-“ kiri sputtered, pulling her head back slightly.

“so cool! you’re like a super na’vi.” y/n muttered in admiration.

kiri laughs and takes her wrist, taking her hand away from her face. her grip softened and she held y/n’s hand in hers.

“you’re my friend now.” y/n said.

“and it’s important that my friends are comfortable with themselves. and know how to care for themselves.” she continued.

it seemed almost impossible for kiri to look y/n in the eye. she felt that if she would, she’d kiss her and wouldn’t be able to stop.

“it’s important you know who you are. you are not a freak. not a weirdo.” y/n said. every word that poured out of her mouth was true.

kiri breathed out and finally replied. “i’ve been told things like that my entire life.. but i don’t think i have believed it until you said it.” she said, sounding almost surprised.

“why is that, kiri?” y/n asked. she was genuinely curious as to why kiri was just now believing this.

y/n’s face was now just an inch away from kiri’s. she wanted to kiss her but wasn’t sure if she actually should.

neither of them were sure. but they knew they very much wanted to.

kiri’s head mixed with how she should answer y/n and whether she should just kiss her.

they still held each other’s hands and y/n was beginning to lean into her.

“i think it’s because.. i like you. more than i’ve ever liked anyone.” kiri said softly. she grew lost in y/n’s bright blue eyes that shined like aquamarine.

y/n’s heart picked up the pace, hearing kiri’s words. she smiled softly before leaning in closer and kissing kiri.

all their problems disappeared in an instance. kiri’s hand went up to y:n’s head where she held it.

they pull away for a moment to look at each other before smiling into another kiss.

y/n’s bandaged hand went to the back of kiri’s neck as she kissed her, feeling ecstatic now that she knew kiri felt the same way.

after years of believing it was bad for kiri to be different, it wasn’t until she met her that she realized that being a freak is not who she truly is.

and it’s time she stopped believing it.

̩͙✧ ₊˚. ೃ

#writing blog #kiri x y/n #atwow fluff #atwow kiri #atwow x reader #avatar the way of water #kiri sully #kiri sully x reader #kiri x reader #writers #avatar #kiri avatar #lgbtqplus #kiri imagine #kiri x you

260 notes · View notes