“i can teach you everything.”
hiiii guys im a new artist 🥹🥹 ive been trying to upgrade my art recently, so i decided to share one of my favorites i recently made: netenung x denreze
(ignore how i forgot my watermark)
#netenung#aonunete#avatarthewayofwater#denreze#avatar
i just woke up and remembered that baby pril managed to make neytiri find her smile again...after all the sadness and pain neytiri starts to see the good again and i can’t wait for her and pril to interact
Neteyam shouldn't be there.
He realizes it from the moment he sees the decorations stretching across the reef, the colors of the Metkayina clan wrapping everything in a celebration that does not belong to him. There's something in the air, in their lively voices, in the easy way everyone moves… That makes him feel out of place, even before he decides to stay.
Still, he doesn't leave. His feet remain there, anchored in the sand, at a careful distance. Far enough not to be seen, but not so far that he cannot see him.
Aonung.
His amber gaze finds him quickly. There is something different in the way he moves now, with more freedom, as if the weight he once seemed to carry on his shoulders no longer exists.
Neteyam tries not to linger on that detail, but the thought comes anyway, inevitable, pulling memories with it that he once tried to leave behind: late-night conversations, touches that lasted a second longer than they should have, the way the Metkayina looked at him when he thought no one else was paying attention. The countless times Aonung told him he loved him, despite everything. Despite everyone.
But their love was never strong enough to break rules that had already been written.
Both of their parents made it clear: there was no room for distractions, nor for a forbidden love that had no place in the clan. Aonung chose to obey, and Neteyam did too. Even so, it never felt like a choice at all, especially not for the Omatikaya.
As the ceremony moves forward, his attention drifts back to him out of pure instinct. The girl at his side smiles, and Aonung returns it with a familiarity so well known that it tightens his chest and churns his stomach.
It does not look forced, not even like a faint attempt to pretend something he does not feel. Neteyam knows him, his feelings are real. And that is what hurts the most. There is no trace of doubt in his expression, in the way he kisses and holds the young Metkayina in his arms.
There is no sign left of that conflict that, when they were together, Neteyam believed he saw reflected in his blue eyes every day. Now there is only simple, genuine happiness, shared with someone else.
Neteyam swallows with difficulty and quickly wipes away a treacherous tear, forcing himself to hold his gaze on that painful scene for a second longer, as if he needed to confirm that this nightmare is real.
As if looking long enough might change something.
But there is nothing left there that belongs to him, no trace of what he once believed was love. And that is when he finally understands: Aonung has moved on. Whatever he felt is gone now, and he isn't coming back. Ever.
Soon, the air in his lungs grows heavy, as if it becomes difficult to breathe. He should leave. He knows there is nothing in that ceremony for him, and yet he is unable to move.
Because even now, even watching how easy it is for Aonung to be happy with someone else, there is a part of him that cannot let him go completely. A part that still asks, in silence, why it could not have been him. Why the love they shared was never enough to overcome what stood between them.
And why, despite everything, he still loves him as if nothing has changed.
"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky. But why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?"
#aonunete