Chapter Text
Lo'ak rests his forehead against Tsireya's, gently, nervous. Ao'nung could arrive back any moment — but he could also arrive days later. And unlike Neteyam, Lo'ak isn't too worried about the Metcayina's physical safety. No, he's worried about Tsireya's.
Tsireya trusts her parents — so Lo'ak trusts them, too, but he cannot help but fear the clan's reaction.
What if they don't accept him?
Sure, Neytiri had, and so did Jake, though reluctantly. But that did not mean the Metcayina will.
Beside them, Kiri rolls her eyes. "This is double homicide, you know?"
Neteyam frowns at her, displeased.
She shrugs innocently.
"Both of the Olo'eyktan's children? Untraditionally, too."
"What happened to supporting us?" Neteyam grumbles, shaking his head. He's been nervous ever since Ao'nung left — their union, too, would be announced soon after. After Tsireya and Lo'ak's, to draw attention away from them.
"It worked out for dad," Lo'ak says, pulling away from Tsireya.
She holds onto one of his hands still. Such touches, even of witnessed by the people, couldn't cause much trouble. At least their relationship would come as less of a surprise.
Kiri hums. "Well, dad was Toruk Makto. You are officially the newcomer who bonded with the outcast Tulkun."
"Did a crab bite your ass in your sleep, or what's with the negativity today?" Neteyam snaps, hands on his hips.
Kiri's arms fly up in surrender. "I support you, but I'm still your sister and I get to pick on you for your bad decisions."
"Eywa found nothing wrong with it," Neteyam sniffs, offended. "In fact."
"Your soulmates, yes, brother, we know," Kiri replies with a roll of her eyes. "But now dad put me in your shoes!"
"Shoes?" Tsireya whispers to Lo'ak.
He points to his own twenty toes and wiggles them. "The stuff sky people put on their feet."
Tsireya nods.
"The other day he asked me why I didn't pay attention–" Kiri continues, annoyed. She gestures around with her hands, pointing at Neteyam, then Lo'ak and Tsireya. "How I could let this happen, he asked. Do you know how irritating that was?"
"Yeah," Neteyam hums, bored. He feigns inspecting his nails. "He's been doing it to me all my life."
"It will be fine," Rotxo pipes up, startling Lo'ak, who'd forgotten he was even still hanging out with them, having been silent for most of the conversation. "The people will understand. I say this as part of the people."
"Rotxo is right." Tsireya's face blossoms into a smile. She holds one of Lo'ak's hands in both of hers now. "And they will be none the wiser about the details."
Lo'ak inhales deeply, lungs feeling too small for his body. "Ao'nung needs to hurry up."
"Don't rush him," Neteyam warns, Kiri's agitation rubbing off on him.
Lo'ak rolls his eyes, holding a hand out towards the waters. "He's not here to be rushed, now is he?"
Neteyam purses his lips, but opts out of saying anything further. Kiri sniggers behind a hand and shakes her head — her initial annoyance seems to fade as she faces her youngest brother.
Lo'ak stares wearily back at her, tail swishing behind him. "What?"
"So," she begins, a pleasant smile on her face. "How did mom and dad react?"
Lo'ak shrugs. "Okay. Clearly, they wouldn't yell in front of Tsireya."
"The perks of being the chief's daughter," Neteyam sing-songs, only to be sushed by his brother.
"Like you aren't the chief's son."
"Your father was the Olo'eyktan of his people," Rotxo says gently. "This earns him respect from our people still.
"He lead the clans to victory against the sky people, yeah, we know," Kiri deadpans.
Rotxo grimaces. "Why are all of you so crabby today?"
"Sorry," she smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "Neteyam's been stressing me out with his constant pacing."
"Neteyam stressing you out is stressing me out!" Lo'ak whines. "It's all your fault, bro."
"I could say something really mean to you right now," Neteyam grumbles. "But out of respect to Tsireya, I will keep it to myself."
Kiri nudges him with an amused smirk. "You'll tell me later, right?"
Neteyam pauses, raising a hairless brow at her. "No."
"Let's just go find Tuk and hang out," she says instead, pointing to the village. "Maybe ride around on the ilu."
"Neteyam!"
They all fall silent. Lo'ak is the first to spot Jake coming towards them. He appears calm, for the most part, but a part of Lo'ak remains on edge. Always on edge that Jake might turn his anger against him again.
Neteyam clears his throat. While their father is still out of earshot, he turns to Lo'ak. "Could you do something stupid real quick to distract him?"
Lo'ak gapes at him. "What did you do?!"
Neteyam only offers a tense, thought slightly unapologetic smile. "Nothing for you to worry about."
Jake reaches them — he nods to Tsireya and Rotxo. Then, he lays a hand on Neteyam's shoulder. "Could you come with me for a second, son?"
Neteyam doesn't put up a fight. His tail twitches and his ears slightly lower, but his back remains straight – almost proud.
Once the two of them leave, Lo'ak turns to Kiri, disbelief written all over his face.
"What did he do?"
Kiri frowns, then offers a shrug. "I don't know. He never told me."
"Maybe he did nothing." Tsireya's voice chimes. She's smiling at them, a touch confused, a touch worried. "Your father might have just missed him."
Lo'ak snorts. "Yeah, probably not."
"Neteyam is not known for causing trouble," Rotxo muses.
Kiri nods. "Much less on purpose."
"How do you know it was on purpose?" The Metcayina asks, tilting his head.
"Didn't you see the look on his face?" Kiri asks, absently running a hand down along her songcord.
Lo'ak cannot help it — he laughs. "He looked guilty as hell."
"I'm sure we'll find out soon." Tsireya rubs a hand against his back in comfort. In truth, she isn't sure Neteyam would confess to his crimes — but the idea that he might have done something to inconvenience his father just a little amused her.
It seemed so unlike him, which is exactly what made it funny. Her eyes meet Kiri's, they blink at each other, both of them trying to bite back a smile before they erupt in giggles.
Lo'ak and Rotxo stare between them.
"It is a little funny," Lo'ak says.
Rotxo nods along. "A little, yes."
And it's quite nice, Lo'ak thinks, to be able to spend time together like this — no chores and duties for a few hours. Nowhere to run, nothing to prepare except for dinner later.
No weird crushing weight on his shoulder because he stepped out of line again or broke some stupid rule he wasn't even made aware of.
It's quiet, in his head.
Yes, the clan will soon find out that Tsireya will be his mate. Yes, he got her pregnant. Unbonded. Technically in secret — but, well, his father doesn't need to know that. Neytiri might figure it out, but Lo'ak doesn't think she'd tell Jake even is she did.
He could just stage a conversation with Tsireya to make it seem like she's telling her about the pregnancy after the announcement — Lo'ak sighs.
They don't need to play pretend.
It will all be fine.
Eventually.