𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓, neteyam sully

XII

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧

neteyam had made the decision that today was the day when he would ask ionia out. he was going to do what he wanted to do; and that was make ionia his, officially.

but the only problem was, the entire group sat there. meaning it was awkward for him to suddenly just ask her out in front of everyone. neteyam was not that brave. and he was too awkward to ask everyone to leave. and lo'ak knew this.

lo'ak had caught onto his brother's glances towards ionia. he knew about his plans to ask her out, and he knew neteyam wouldn't ask her out in front of people.

tsireya had also caught onto neteyam's looks towards her sister. in addition, lo'ak may have told tsireya about neteyam's plan. in his defence, he had to. tsireya being ionia's sister and her best friend.

when lo'ak announced the news to her, she squealed like a three-year-old child. she knew how much ionia liked neteyam, yet knew how scared she was to ask him out herself. and then maybe tsireya told her brother, who then told roxto, who then told kiri.

so word had spread around the friend group pretty quickly...

let's just say roxto wasn't happy with the news. his mouth had dropped slightly at it and his eyes has lowered to the ground in annoyance and almost sadness.

roxto had loved ionia since he was a little boy, and this boy comes along and makes ionia fall in love with him somehow. he'd tried everything! he collected shells for her because she loved them. but she just received them with a smile and a small thank you.

roxto once saw neteyam give ionia a bunch of shells, and instead of the reaction roxto received, neteyam was given the biggest smile and the warmest hug ever. and he had only been in the village for a month or so.

he just couldn't understand at all. he had been here since birth, he knew everything about her. he was such good friends with her family. neteyam wasn't. neteyam wasn't here since birth. but, he knew everything about her, somehow.

"hey tsireya, you wanna go hang out?" lo'ak asked, looking over to her with his eyebrows raised and his eyes quickly looking over to ionia and neteyam, who now had their eyes set on them.

tsireya nodded and held out her hand, running off with lo'ak in laughter, knowing what was soon to come.

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧

after a few minutes, ao'nung suggested he
and roxto head back home. which roxto had to reluctantly agree to.

and then kiri was left on her own, which she found kind of awkward, as she felt like she was third wheeling.

once kiri had cleared off there was a silence, not awkward, however. comfortable and sure.

ionia spoke up, "eywa, i know why they've done this," she sighed with a laugh.

neteyam's eyes shot to her face, wide in horror, "y-you do?" he gulped.

ionia closed her eyes and took a breath, she didn't dare look at neteyam because he could have any reaction and she didn't want to see it. "tsireya wanted me to ask you out. like, properly."

it felt as though the silence ionia received answered her question. she looked down, keeping her gaze away from neteyam in embarrassment.

neteyam looked at the girl which adoration, but she wouldn't even look to notice.

his fingers gently took her chin and turned her head towards him. and ionia saw; she saw how he was looking at her.

"actually, it was for me to ask you out," neteyam answered. "i wanted to for ages but, i just got so scared that you didn't see me this way, and tsireya and lo'ak kept telling me i was being stupid, but i thought he was just messing around with me and that your sister was playing along cause you know they're like in love or whatever. and with everything that happened with your mother i thought i had no chance and... what i'm really trying to say is, will you be my girlfriend?" he finished.

ionia's eyes lit up. for a minute there, she thought she had dropped herself in it. but no. neteyam had told her what she'd been wanting to hear for so long.

ionia nodded, her blue eyes gleaming at neteyam. "yes!" her nodding became frantic as neteyam smiled widely.

ionia threw herself into his arms, which neteyam happily accepted, wrapping his around the small of her back.

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧

"god, this is so disgusting," ao'nung complained, the group of friends watching from afar.

"literally," lo'ak agreed, "like i know i told him to do this but that doesn't mean i wanted to see them be all whatever,"

tsireya and kiri rolled their eyes. they were so happy for the two, that they even had a hard time staying quiet when they saw neteyam had actually asked her.

"shut up lo'ak," tsireya hushed.

"can we just go now? you know, and let them be?" roxto asked. truth be told he didn't want to watch it. he couldn't stand the fact that the two were now officially a couple. but he was going to have to deal with it for as long as it went on. slowly the group disappeared and left the two alone.

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧

neteyam and ionia still sat facing one another, just taking in that they were now dating.

"ionia," neteyam spoke. she looked up and hummed in response, "can i kiss you?" he asked.

ionia slowly nodded, but inside she was scared. she'd never kissed anyone before. neteyam even knew that. however, he'd kissed one girl back home when he was younger and dated her for a week. but that was different. that girl wasn't ionia.

but before ionia could worry even more, neteyam's lips were on hers. her body automatically relaxed in the comfort of him. his hands had found their way to her waist, hers finding the way to his jaw.

ionia felt complete, she'd been wanting this but had been too scared and anxious about it. but here she was, kissing the boy she had liked for so long.

neteyam gently pulled away, resting his forehead on ionia's. a sign of closeness between the two. "your mother was right, you really are a gift from eywa," he smiled.

"oel ngati kameie, ma teyam," ionia whispered.

"oel ngati kameie," neteyam replied.

‧˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧