Another Chance |Ao'nung x Neteyam|

Chapter 17: Old Friends

"Ao'nung." Jake greets with a slight dip of his head before his attention is back on his eldest son. He places a hand on Neteyam's upper back and smiles tensely at the Metcayina.

Ao'nung's throat bobs with a nervous swallow; he raises on of his finned hands to his forehead and dips his head as he returns Toruk Makto's formalities. Neteyam tilts his head and watches as Ao'nung greets his father before scurrying away, tail all but between his legs. The Omaticaya bites back a smug smirk, though his heart fills with a grain of disappointment at never finding out what Ao'nung had been hiding in his hands.

Jake quirks a smile, shaking his head in amusement as he follows Ao'nung's retreating form with his eyes. "What did you do to him?"

Neteyam feigns innocence, shrugging before looking away, gazing at the Metcayina by the shore. "Me? Absolutely nothing."

Jake bursts into laughter and pats Neteyam's shoulder. Neteyam presses into his side comfortably, grabbing Jake's wrist and guiding it to his bump, demanding rubs. "Son, I want to talk to you about the next moves regarding the sky people."

Neteyam hums and tilts his head up to stare at Jake's face. "Yes?"

Jake purses his lips and his nose scrunches exactly as Neteyam's usually does when he feels uneasy about something. His voice is low and unsure as he speaks, fidgeting with one of Neteyam's braids awkwardly. "More precisely your role—"

"I'm not fighting, dad," Neteyam murmurs quietly and tucks his head into the crook of Jake's neck, not missing Jake's relieved breath. "My friend might miscarry from a hit received by sky person. I will stay with him, though for now it seems he will be fine."

Jake visibly relaxes, nodding slowly. "Well, that makes things easier. I brought our most skilled warriors to help us win. Tarsem will lead a group on ikran-back with guns."

Neteyam lets Jake guide them both to sit side by side along the shore. He pokes at a few little crabs, watching them scurry away in a flurry of pale, shiny shells. A few chirp at him, raising menacing claws, though their entire body is but the size of Neteyam's thumbnails.

"Lo'ak will go with the Metcayina," Jake explains, doodling circles into the worm golden sands. "He will be able to guide them."

"How many warriors did you bring?" Neteyam asks, tucking his legs underneath himself, attempting to massage his sore lower-back with his knuckles.

Jake watches him before biting his lips. "Around two hundred. I did not want to risk leaving our people defenceless, so Toneri and Sa'nor stayed behind with the rest."

"Does grandmother know what happened with Ronal?" Neteyam pokes at the shells in the sand, lips downturned.

Swallowing, Jake gives a short nod. "She does. Your mother told her immediately after she found out. The clan leaders haven't been informed, nor their Tsahiks. It would stain our alliance with the Metcayina too greatly, so we saw it best to not tell them."

"I wish not to attend the war discussion meetings unless I am fighting," Neteyam murmurs after a moment of silence. "They are stressful, and the people refuse to listen to you."

Jake's face turns solemn, but he merely heaves a sigh, flicking sand from his legs. He glances at Neteyam's face and bites the inside of his cheek. "Alright. Want me to fill you in after?"

Neteyam shrugs. He cracks a smile and leans back on his hands, stretching his legs out, wiggling his toes. "I will probably annoy Ao'nung until he does. There isn't much for us to talk about anyway."

Wrapping an arm around Neteyam, Jake pulls him closer and nods along to his words. Neteyam clicks his tongue, lost in thought. "Hey, dad?"

"Yeah?"

Neteyam hesitates, clearing his throat. He looks down at his lap and lets his eyes wander along the beads adorning his songcord, remembering each cherished memory as his heart flutters nervously. "What was it like bonding with someone you actually love?"

Jake has to close his eyes for a moment, unexpected agony wrecking his heart.

He'd never deny Neteyam's request, so he answers as best as he could, even though he's not very good with words, watching as his son listens, nose twitching when he shares a funny detail about his relationship Neytiri – Neteyam finds it awfully funny that Neytiri wanted to kill him at first, but he's absolutely in awe at the story of so many of Eywa's spirits covering Jake's entire body.

Days later, just as news reaches Awa'atlu about an oncoming attack, Neteyam finds himself wandering the shores, by himself. He hums a soft song Tsireya taught him and rubs absent-mindedly at his stomach, smiling gently to himself as he imagines what the little child's face will one-day look like.

He wonders if it will be a boy or a girl and he thinks about names; maybe, a boy will be named Nayeakì or Ayno, but for a girl, he really likes Aoke.

Neteyam pauses, standing facing the ocean's deep blue waters; he digs his toes into the sand and murmurs the song, one of love and family.

"You have a beautiful voice."

Ears twitching, Neteyam turns his head, noticing a young warrior stand beside him, one from his own clan in the forest.

A smile blossom's on Neteyam's face, eyes squinting from how wide it is. "Teneytano!"

The warrior grins, thin braids adorned by beads and feathers, shades at the side. Teneytano grins, all teeth, and long fangs. "What's up, lil prince?"

Neteyam sighs happily and inhales his familiar scent, wrapping Teneytano in a loose, one-armed hug. The warrior nuzzles against his hair, chuckling. "Baby's in the way of our hug."

Neteyam snorts, loud and entirely ungraceful. He pushes on Teneytano's shoulder lightly and the warrior pretends to tumble to the ground, stirring up a cloud of sand as the wind awakens around them.

"Too bad," Neteyam hums, nudging Teneytano's ribs with his cold toes.

The beta rolls away unceremoniously, crying out in offense at the attack, but he doesn't make a move to roughhouse Neteyam the way they used to in their childhood.

"Dad didn't tell me you were here," Neteyam hums, sitting down next to the warrior, chuckling when Teneytano rolls onto his stomach, propping his head on his arms to stare at the omega happily.

"Olo'eyktan never liked me around you." He sticks his tongue out and Neteyam almost forgets that they're only one year apart.

"Oh, I wonder why," Neteyam replies, lips curled up. "Can't be because of the time he caught me with my hand down your—"

Teneytano swats at his thigh, cackling loudly. "Obviously. But now you're a married man."

Neteyam shrugs. "It's a political marriage. It's not like you can accidentally get me pregnant, anyway."

The warrior tilts his head, eyes searching Neteyam's face. "You never let any of us touch you."

"No, because I wanted more than I could have," Neteyam admits, shrugging. "But I don't have to worry about that anymore."

Teneytano's nose twitches before the warrior bites his lower lips, large, golden eyes staring into Neteyam's soul through the omega's own. "I wouldn't want to ruin the alliance between the clans."

Neteyam smirks, laying a hand on his stomach. "You cannot tell anyone, but the Tsahik did not respect the conditions. Ao'nung was supposed to properly court me for a year, but she gave me a berry to start my heat the day I landed."

Stunned silence settles over them before Teneytano's lips pull back in a sneer. "That is unacceptable, they went against Eywa herself. Such a fruit is sinful—"

Neteyam places a gentle hand on the beta's shoulder, squeezing. "Eywa would not create some fruit she thought sinful. I assume pairs use them if they struggle to conceive."

Pursing his lips, Teneytano nods. "I cannot believe you still never get angry."

Neteyam snorts. "Ah, I like to terrorise Ao'nung, don't worry."

Teneytano tilts his head, lips quirked up.
"Of course, you do," he whispers in amusement, eyes twinkling in mischief before he attacks Neteyam with a wild set of tickles, reaching his most sensitive spots.

Neteyam will deny the shriek he let out until the day he dies.