Chapter Text
It’s a fairly peaceful afternoon for all of the Sullies. Their morning lessons had gone fine and without too much trouble, so now they were all relaxing in their marui while waiting for Neytiri to finish lunch. After lunch they would all be going their separate ways.
Neteyam had been promised to be taught how to hunt the Metkayina way by Ao’nung. It is quite different from how he uses his bow to fish. Ao’nung is meant to come by after lunch to pick him up.
Lo’ak had been tasked with helping some of elders in the village as a bit of a punishment for an earlier stunt. He had been caught going past the reef to see Payakan alone when he was explicitly told that he always needed to have someone with him.
Tsireya, Rotxo, and Kiri planned on exploring the ocean more and grabbing a few things for the Tsahìk while out.
Neytiri and Tuk were going to spend the rest of the day together. A mother-daughter day as Jake had once called it.
Meanwhile, Jake is going back to training to tame a tsurak. It had been a point of annoyance to him even after he was told that it sometimes took many days to even get on one, even longer to master riding it.
But for now, they’re all just relaxing before they have to return to their duties and promises.
Neytiri is carefully slicing some fruit for lunch while quietly chatting with Jake about how their days had gone so far and how they would be spending the rest of it. Meanwhile, Jake took to sharpening his blades. The knives they had were not made for fish and dulled easily which meant that they needed to be sharpened more often.
Lo’ak had agreed to repair a net for Tsireya. The Metkayina girl had promised to help out some of the elders around the village and she hadn’t time to do to fix it. Lo’ak, being the lovesick fool he is, happily agreed to repair it, knowing that he had the weaving skills of a child. Surprisingly though, the net didn’t look half bad.
Neteyam carefully weaves knots and shells into the new piece he’s crafting, a necklace. Specifically, one for Tuk as she had gotten quite a few shells from the beach and had nothing to do with them.
Tuk sits happily beside him sorting through her shells and picking the ones she wanted in her necklace. She sits mostly in silence as she concentrates all her energy on finding the ‘perfect’ shells. For a girl with as much energy as she has, it’s fascinating to see her so quiet and still. Neteyam smiles to himself at the sight of Tuk as he continues his work.
Next to Tuk sits Kiri, who offers her little sister some of her own collection of shells and beads. Kiri’s also weaving a piece. She needs a new armband as her old had begun feeling too tight. Her old armband is restricting her movements which isn’t particularly helpful when trying to flow with the water.
“Teyam?” Tuk’s voice stood out against the otherwise nearly silent marui. Neteyam immediately looks up from the necklace he’s weaving and to his little sister. “Are you hurt?” This attracts the attention of the other members of their family.
Neteyam doesn’t have the best history of asking for help. He would quite often downplay whatever injuries he had which made a hard-learned lesson when he collapsed in the middle of the forest because he refused help. But in this case, Neteyam wasn’t hurt, so he looks confused at his little sister.
“No? Why do you think that?” Neteyam asks her confused.
“You have bruises under your necklace.” Tuk said in a small voice, concerned for her big brother. “And it looks like someone bit you on your shoulder.” She points to Neteyam’s right shoulder which he had been trying his best to hide with his braids.
“What?” Neytiri is the first to speak. She gets up and walks over to the other side of the marui. She crouches in front of her son. Neteyam slowly backs away from his mother as she corners him against the wall.
She carefully brushes away his braids from Neteyam’s shoulder and just as Tuk said, there is a clear bite mark. Neytiri backs away from her son as she gasps. Jake has already made his way next to his mate and looks at his son worried. “Is someone hurting you?”
Neteyam looks away from his parents and covers his necklace and neck with his hands. He mumbles out a small no.
Jake turns his attention to his youngest daughter. “Tuk go outside for now.”
Tuk reluctantly leaves her big brother and sits outside their marui, waiting for them to finish their talk.
“Neteyam, who hurt you?” Neytiri asks gently, with a rage hidden behind her calm demeanor.
Lo’ak and Kiri sit just behind her not even trying to look like they aren’t eavesdropping. Kiri had put down her new armband onto the floor as she eyes Neteyam worriedly. The net is still in Lo’ak’s hands, but all his attention is now also directed at his brother.
Neteyam slouches in on himself, hiding behind his braids. “Mom it’s fine.” Neteyam says dismissively. He tries to make Neytiri drop the problem. Obviously, it doesn’t work and only makes her worry more.
“Son, it’s not fine if someone hurt you.” Jake said sternly becoming increasingly more protective over his son.
Neteyam moves his hands to moves to hide his now burning cheeks. “No one hurt me!” He insists.
Neytiri sighs as she realizes she would be getting no answers from Neteyam. “Let me see the bruises Tuk was talking about.” She says.
“No!” Neteyam quickly says as he moves to cover his neck once again. His very red cheeks and ears now very visible.
It made his parent’s hearts clench as they see their son embarrassed by being hurt. “It’s nothing to have shame about. You mother can help treat them.” Jake places a hand on Neteyam’s shoulder, but he flinches away from his touch.
Neteyam watches as his father eyes go wide and his expression turns to anger. “Dad-” Neteyam tries to defuse the situation from getting worse, although it seems Jake had already come to his own conclusions.
“Who is hurting you?” Jake says sternly using his military voice. “I want names.”
“Oh, great mother.” Neteyam curses out. “Someone is not hurting me!” Jake looks unconvinced by his eldest’s words.
Neteyam mumbles something out that Jake doesn’t catch which he frowns at. “What?”
“They’re not bruises.” Neteyam says once again louder. His hands still securely wrapped around his neck so they couldn’t see anything even if they wanted to.
“Tuk said that she saw bruises.” Neytiri cut in, the softness in her voice leaving as she got more worried about her son. Jake also eyed him incredulously, not believing Neteyam. “You don’t have to give names or even say how you got them. But please take off your necklace, I want to treat them.” Neytiri looks at her son with a soft smile on her face as if to reassure him.
“Mom just leave it.” Neteyam sounds almost desperate at this point. His tail flicked from side to side as his face seared with embarrassment of the situation.
“Let her help.” Kiri speaks out from behind their parents. “Please.” Her voice so small, yet so full of concern.
“Yeah bro.” Lo’ak agrees. Even he has an air of concern surrounding him. The last time Neteyam had been hurt and hid it was the time when he passed out. It was terrifying to him, at the time and even still, to see his brother looking fine one moment to the next where he collapsed to the ground without warning.
Neteyam couldn’t take the worry he’s causing his family, so he groans out in frustration before slowly taking his hands off of his neck. He quickly takes off his choker like ripping off a bandage, and there in full view to rest of his family is the ‘bruises’ Tuk talked about.
“They’re. Not. Bruises.” Neteyam stresses even more through his teeth.
The silence that follows in the marui is tense. The four other na’vi just stared at the hickeys on Neteyam’s neck with pure concentration. Jake lets out a “oh” as he finally understands what’s happening. Their gazes had softened now, and the only thing left is the shock present on their faces.
The awkward silence that settled on the room is interrupted by Lo’ak. “Bro?! What?!”
Neteyam silently prays to Eywa for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. The embarrassment of whole situation somehow getting worse with the looks his family is now giving.
“Son you’re feeling new-” Jake starts before swiftly getting cut off by his eldest.
“We are not having this talk.” Neteyam groans out as he drags his hands down his face. “I promise you I’m fine.”
“And the bite?” Neytiri, who had been silent, suddenly asks. Her eyes fixed the very clear bite that marked his shoulder.
“They got carried away.” Neteyam says not daring to look his mother in the eyes. “They didn’t mean to bite that hard.” He explained further when he notices the way her tail flicks from side to side in what seemed to be anger. She just hums in response which isn’t bad, but also not good.
As if Eywa had finally answered Neteyam’s prays, a new voice took all the attention off of him.
“Neteyam?” Ao’nung voice caused everyone to look to him. Neteyam feels so relieved, but the same time he fears even more that his parents will somehow connect the dots and start hunting down his boyfriend. “Is now a bad time?” Ao’nung asks confused by whatever is going on in their marui.
“No!” Neteyam says as he quickly puts his choker back on, once again hiding all the marks. He quickly gets up to leave. He didn’t want his parents to somehow connect the dots and start hunting down his boyfriend. “We’ll talk later. Ao’nung promised to teach me how to hunt in the way of the Metkayina.” He turns to look at his family as he stands next to Ao’nung.
“You should bring them by later when you come back.” Jake says obviously referring to the mystery person that had given him the marks. He’s giving him a look that says that it wasn’t up for debate whether he did or not, so Neteyam just nods his head, a tight smile on his face.
Once his father gives an approving nod back, Neteyam rushes his boyfriend and him out of the marui. He’s freaking out internally and it’s starting to show. Before Neteyam could even get more than a few steps away from his home, he hears someone already calling out them.
Neteyam slowly turns around to see Tuk impatiently waving him down from where she sits outside. Fuck Neteyam forgot about his little sister.
“Teyam, are you ok? Who hurt your shoulder and neck? Did mom help you?” Tuk’s question come pouring out of her mouth and Neteyam couldn’t help but feel bad for the worry he had caused her. She quickly gets up and stands in front of him, worry plaguing her face.
“I’m fine Tuk.” Neteyam reassures her. “Ao’nung promised to teach me how to hunt. When we come back, we’ll talk about it, alright?”
Next to him, Ao’nung just looks more confused but still hums and nods his head when he sees that Tuk has cheered up at Neteyam’s words. Neteyam silently turns to him mouthing, “I’ll tell you later,” as Tuk ran back into the Marui.
-
They walk in a somewhat comfortable silence with Ao’nung looking over to Neteyam every so often. Once they get far enough away from the Maruis on a more secluded part of the beach, Ao’nung finally turns to his partner.
“What was she talking about?” He asks the other boy curiously and even a little worried.
As they had gotten further and further from the village, Neteyam’s panic had started to show. His tail lashes from side to side erratically, his ears are flat to his head, and Neteyam even looks panicked as he turns to look at his boyfriend.
“They know about us.” Neteyam says as calmly as he can.
“What?” The Metkayina boy asks dumbly as if the words hadn’t fully registered.
“My family saw the…” Neteyam pauses before taking a deep breath. “…marks on my neck and shoulder.”
Ao’nung’s reaction is immediate. His concerned expression quickly turns to horror as he stares at Neteyam mouth agape. Ao’nung’s face fell even more as the entire situation registers. He lets out a shaky laugh that sounds a bit too much like a sob.
“Toruk Makto is going to kill me.”