yeah I hello, how about a modern Neteyam x reader x Lo’ak love triangle?? Maybe where Neteyam is off at university and meets a girl there, not knowing that the girl he’s falling for is ALSO the same girl Lo’ak spent an entire summer obsessing over during some summer program?
Double Or Nothing
Pairing: Neteyam x Reader x Lo’ak
Summary: You spend a summer volunteering at a camp for youth, where you meet Lo’ak. After spending a summer growing close with the overconfident boy, you head to university. After getting assigned a shared study desk, you meet the serious and studious, yet charming, Neteyam.
During a break Lo’ak comes to visit you, and finds out that both he and his brother are dead set on the same girl.
Warnings: Fluff, slight angst, jealousy, mutual (triple) pining, eventual throuple, smut in later parts
Part 2
Lo’ak — part 1
“On a scale of 1-10, how well do you like having fingers?” He winces and hisses under his breath, eyes fixated on the stinging dab of antiseptic on his hands.
“What?” He only lifts his head when you ask him the question almost too casually for it to be a joke.
“How well do you like having fingers, because I gotta say…some of these kids can be vicious. Like they’re only 9 and 10, and they’re mean.” Again, he wishes he could say you’re joking but he’s seen firsthand how competitive these little shits could be, and it was only his first week in a summer long position as camp counsellor.
It was something he hadn’t initially wanted to do but he couldn’t stay in his parent's house while his older brother was there. Normally he wouldn’t mind having Neteyam home for the summer, but his parents had been insufferable. Neteyam was in his second year in university and was now home for the summer, and there was almost an endless amount of social shit. Where Neteyam would be treated like he always like—the golden child.
Lo’ak couldn’t stand an entire summer dealing with that shit. He loved his brother, they were family, but Lo’ak didn’t want to deal with an entire summer of living in his shadow.
“Can’t believe the little shits bit me.” Lo’ak’s lips curled and there was a brief flash of his teeth, as he watched you cleaning his hand.
After he had been bit, and it was clear that there was blood, he had been pulled away from the cabins and the open play field, toward the kitchen. You and Lo’ak were camp counsellors for a group of kids who were placed on a team that would compete for some bullshit title at the end of camp. He was in charge of keeping a rowdy group of boys contained and safe in the cabin he was assigned, and you were set in charge of a group of girls.
And your cabins had been paired together, which meant you and he would be spending a lot of time together this summer.
“These kids can be a little…” you pause and lean back, one hand still holding the antiseptic wipes while the other rests on the table between you both. “…psycho. Especially when it comes to their cabin eaders.”
“What the hell did I do to deserve being bit?” He briefly looks at his hand, the blood from the bite have been cleaned thanks to you, but there will be marks for at least a few days. He was only here for a week, and he had quickly realized that kids now were far more feral that he ever remembered being, and he was constantly in a state of trouble with his parents.
“It could have something to do with you and Top Bun.” You set the used antiseptic wipes on the table you were sitting on and reached into the first aid kit for some bandaids. You were sitting cross legged on the table like he had with minimal space between you.
“Top Bun, who the hell is Top Bun?” Lo’ak hissed when you placed the bandaid around his bite mark, the beige material settling tightly around his finger.
“Top Bun?” You crumple the backing of the bandaids and tuck them into your palm. “Ao’nung? Everyone here has nicknames for each other, whether we want them or not.”
“Top Bun-“
“Yeah, because he always has his hair in that stupid bun. I call him Top Bun Hipster, but you know…” you shrug and lean back on one of your arms, head tilted to the side. “His parents started this camp, named it after their hometown or something.”
“Ao’nung is a bitch.” Lo’ak didn’t deny what he had done, calling him a bitch and punching him square in the face, but it wasn’t like it wasn’t warranted. Ao’nung thought he was hot shit because of who his parents were, and Lo’ak was clearly not one to back off. “Who else has a nickname?”
“I call Roxto, Roxy.” You smirk to yourself, amused at your own joke but don’t bother to clarify or share with Lo’ak. “I call Ao’nung’s sister Tsireya, Slaya.”
“Slaya?” Lo’ak copies your posture and leans back against his arms, taking the same approach you do to sneaking into the kitchens when you shouldn’t have.
“Yeah, have you seen her?” Your fingers drum against the table, that casual conversation continuing while the sound of kids running around is muffled only by the closed doors. “She’s practically a model, puts the rest of us to shame.”
“Yeah, she’s hot-”
“She’s also in a very committed relationship, so don’t even think about it.” You shut down his hopes before he can get them up and laugh at the expression on his face—like so many other boys have had before Lo’ak.
“Their entire family is ridiculous. I mean they have ridiculous genes, it’s unfair.” You don’t speak with real envy, just observations. “Ao’nung might by a cocky prick, but he has the looks to back it up.”
“Everyone has a nickname, what’s yours?” He leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees with his braids falling over his shoulder.
“Aren’t you more curious what yours is?” You answer his question with a question, shifting the focus of the conversation back to him.
Lo’ak has only been here a week, he’s got a whole summer working closely with you and he knows that spending an entire summer with someone he can’t get along with would be hell. Like Ao’nung, or as you call him Top Bun. Lo’ak already got into a physical altercation with him which could have gotten him kicked out of camp before he even started. He can’t risk having to go home and spend the summer with his perfect golden child of an older brother.
“Are you going to tell me?”
“Depends.” You sit straight again; your legs still crossed and give Lo’ak a once over. “Are you going to tell me your last name?”
Lo’ak hides his groan under his breath and tries to feign ignorance to your question. This was supposed to be his escape, a place where he didn’t need to be the son of Jake and Neytiri Sully, the younger and less spectacular son. He didn’t need to carry the weight of being the spare son or try to live up to the reputation that Neteyam had.
“My family is…complicated. Fuck, complicated doesn’t seem like enough.” He runs his hands over his braids and then down his face, as if he can erase something you can’t see.
“Fine, keep your secrets.” You don’t give him hell for not telling you, and Lo’ak’s glad you don’t push him on this. But you do start to uncross your legs and get off the table, shifting and moving toward the exit of the kitchen, only stopping to look back at him with a smirk.
“Rambo.” Your laugh is short and is followed by a soft snort. “Take a wild guess why you’re stuck with that.”
Almost near the end of summer and Lo’ak realized was a goddamn idiot. He’d called his mom and dad as often as he could, even video calling them to say hi to his siblings. He had done everything he could to keep the details of his summer to a minimum.
And he promised he wouldn’t mention you. Or the fact that Lo’ak was into you in a way that went way beyond being friends. You worked together closely for a month now, you were councillors on the same team of kids, most of your days were spent together.
Still, he hadn’t meant to mention you to his family but the topic of you slipped out. No real details, just the fact that you were pretty damn cute, and your nickname. They didn’t need to know anything else; this was Lo’ak’s summer to be himself out of the shadow of Neteyam.
“My baby bro goes to camp to avoid spending all summer with me and finds himself a girlfriend.” That didn’t stop Neteyam from giving him hell through the screen of Lo’ak’s phone.
“Shut up, fuckface. She’s not my girlfriend.” Lo’ak denied Neteyam, and even if it was true, he wouldn’t give Neteyam any details.
No details about what went on with with two of you, or how you’d flirt with each other.
When you had the campers would be off watching a movie and a lot of the younger councillors were given the night off, you and Lo’ak would sneak off to the docks. You’d challenge each other to hold your breath the longest, to swim the farthest or make the best dives.
During late night campfires with you’re the kids you were responsible for, you would take turns taking playful jabs at each other. The kids thought it was hilarious, some of the bolder ones would tell you to kiss and get it over with already.
If they had only knew that he already had.
Lo’ak had stolen the pretty sounds you made right from your lips during those nights off when no one else was around. The two of you had spent what time you had together without a bramble of kids following you around, up until the end of summer.
Only a few days before it all ended and the camp was over, you and Lo’ak ended up at the docks while your cabin kids were in the theatre. One last night off for s majority of the younger councillors, while the kids were watching a movie send-off.
“I’m going to university; this was my last summer before my first year.” While you sat on the dock with your feet in the water, Lo’ak had rested his head in your lap. You played with his braids, specifically feeling the smooth beads beneath your fingers.
100ft down the beach, away from the dock, a few other councillors who had the night off were having a fire. He didn’t need to look over to know who was there, he could hear their voices and knew it was the usual few that spent time together.
Ao’nung, Roxto, Tsireya, and her boyfriend—or as you called them, Top Bun, Roxy, Slaya and Boy Toy. The group of them would occasionally look over at you two lying on the dock but didn’t call you over or acknowledge you past that.
Lo’ak stared up at you. He didn’t watch the stars or the gentle waves of the lake, not even the other councillors who were having a fire on the beach. There was no one else he’d rather be with right now, and you had all his focus.
“You’re studying medicine, aren’t you?” Lo’ak tilts his head back, his eyes searching yours as you continue playing with his braids and beads.
“Oh yeah, modern day healer. Registered nursing.” Your fingers draw away from his braids to his cheek and then run along his jawline. “Going to Harvard on one hell of a scholarship.”
“My brother attends Harvard, he’s studying business engineering.” Lo’ak barely talked about his brother to you, only giving you small pieces here or there.
And he only ever referred to him as fuckface or GB—golden boy, the perfect son. He kept as much about his brother from you as he could, just like he’d done with his family and his last name.
Lo’ak didn’t want to be known for his last name or the fame around his mother and father. He wanted to be known just as Lo’ak—not the disappointing second son.
“Don’t tell me GB is going to be one of those bros who has a million dollar idea that ends in crypto?” You groan and lean over, looking down at Lo’ak.
“Fuck if I know.” Lo’ak shifts positions and sits up, his left hand bracing himself against the dock while his right hand rests against the back of your neck. “And I don’t give a damn. What I care about-”
Lo’ak uses the hand on the back of your neck to pull you closer, his lips almost touching yours.
“-is getting your number. Just because summer’s ending doesn’t mean I can’t text you when you leave.” Lo’ak’s nose touches yours, and he makes contact with your lips, kissing you under the moonlight.
“I have university, Rambo.” You pull away and settle one of your hands on his chest, the other touches his beaded braids. “And we both agreed not to commit to anything.”
“I know that,” Lo’ak breathed out before leaning in for another kiss, “still, I need your number. Someone needs to save you from losing your fucking mind with all those pretentious pricks.”
“Yeah, you think you can Rambo?” You lean back, not letting him kiss you again.
“If not, I could always help you make a break for it.” This was the end of his summer, you were going to school, and he was going back to his family. It was the end of him just being Lo’ak, unrestricted rom the shadow of his family’s name and influence.
“Okay, Rambo. You got yourself a deal, I’ll call you when I need to make a getaway.” With him convincing you, he finally manages to make contact with your lips.
He was going to see you again, he had to.