Chapter Text
Lo’ak let out a deep sigh, crossing his arms and grimacing as his father scolded him yet again.
“Lo’ak, I believe I told you to make friends with the Olo'eyktan’s son. Not get into another fight with him!” A loud sigh resonates from Jake as his hand raises up to his face and pulls it down in an annoyed motion.
Neytiri, his mother, stands behind Jake, her ears lower slightly and she shakes her head at Lo’ak, disapproving of what he had done.
Lo’ak lets out a frustrated groan, his ears droop slightly and his teeth bares at his father, stomping one foot on the ground slightly.
“It wasn’t even a physical fight! I didn’t put one hand on him! He’s just.. He just wants to get me in trouble!” His voice raises slightly and his fists clench. The family’s shared room is suddenly dead silent, the only thing audible is the light shuffling accompanied by the slight deformation of the tent-like home as what Lo’ak assumes to be Kiri, walks out of the soon-to-be argument.
“Don’t raise your voice with me young man.” Sternness rang throughout his fathers voice which made Lo’ak’s ears turn down, impossibly further, in a cautious manner.
“You know what I told you, stay out of trouble and you know I shouldn’t have to say it more than once, boy.” Lo’ak peers up at his dad through his narrowed eyes, slowly calming down and opting to just cross his arms to make himself still look fed up with the conversation they were having.
Lo’ak’s head drops slightly, staring at the floor of their home instead of at his father as a newfound guilt engulfs him like the rushing waters at Three Brothers Rock.
“Sorry sir.” Lo’ak mumbles out, continuing to look at the floor to avoid the disappointed looks on his parents' faces. He already knows he’s a disappointment and he’s not the son his parents had prayed to Eywa for.. but he doesn’t need to be reminded of that every time he even glances in their direction.
Lo’ak’s ears twitch as he hears a disgruntled sounding sigh being pulled from his father’s mouth, clearly not satisfied with his answer which had worked many times before.
Another common moment of awkward silence washed over the Sully’s, Lo’ak’s eyes followed his mother and fathers movements, watching his mother walk over towards his father, leaving Tuk behind staring at Lo’ak with an amused smile on her face, he grinned, sticking his tongue out at her, grin growing bigger as he watched her cover her mouth to stifle her giggles.
Lo’ak finally raised his head to face his parents as he noticed the silence had been going on far too long for his liking and what he saw immediately made him wish that he had plunged into darkness and consequently, never came back the time he had just narrowly escaped becoming an Akula’s breakfast.
“The chief and I have decided you’ll be training with his son from now on… And just his son, not his friends or your little girlfriend.” Jake grinned slightly at his own wording, a bit of tooth showing when Lo’ak finally registered his words and his mouth dropping open in an ‘O’ shape.
Lo’ak’s arms cross, looking away from his parents as they laugh together at Lo’ak’s red looking face, “She’s not my girlfriend, dad!” Lo’ak huffs, grinding his foot against the floor. His father looks at him expectantly and Lo’ak just nods, knowing he isn’t going to win the fight of trying to get his dad to change the deal he made with the Olo'eyktan in his favour.. and this is his new home now so he’s going to have to put in some effort if he wants his family to have the respect and reputation his father wants them to have.
He trudges out of the door, looking back at his parents one last time before letting his frustrations out on the floor as he jammed his feet against it angrily.. so angry in fact that if he was a Sky Person wearing a… jumper? Or hoodie?.. Whatever Norm had called them, he’d be shoving his hands into them and slouching his back like some rebellious teenager. tail whipping back and forth in annoyance.
A hand comes to rest on his shoulder and Lo’ak jumps from the suddenness of it, he spins around to see who the culprit was but once seeing it was Neteyam he sighed and began speed walking towards the Chief’s .. house? Meeting place? Whatever it was, he.. of course.. didn’t want to be late for his training session.
Neteyam jogs up to him, unbothered by Lo’ak’s speed walking as if this has happened many times before. Neteyam places a hand on his shoulder, his jogging slowing down lightly as Lo’ak slowed his pace to hear Neteyam out.
“Come on Lo’ak, it’s not that bad.. and I think it’s a good thing.. you finaallly learning how to hunt properly? Whew, I think I heard Eywa cry at that one!” Neteyam laughs, but he sounds sincere.
Despite Neteyam sounding sincere, Lo’ak still felt rage flowing through his system at his words, “Of course you would say that, would mum and dad ever make you train with someone who… I don’t know.. almost killed you?”
Neteyam glares at Lo’ak, “Maybe you should’ve told them that he almost killed you then, hm?” Lo’ak’s eyes widened at Neteyam’s words, slightly surprised at the fact that Neteyam was upset with him, even though he had seen him upset multiple times before.
Neteyam narrows his eyes uncomfortably and looks back and forth between their home and Lo’ak, the silence was uncomfortable for Lo’ak but Neteyam breaks this by finally letting out a deep sigh and opting to pat Lo’ak on the shoulder weirdly, “I’ll talk to dad about it and see if I can get you out of it.” Lo’ak opened his mouth to protest, to tell Neteyam that it wasn’t worth it to get in trouble on his behalf again and face the consequences of Lo’ak’s own actions, but Neteyam was already running back to their humble abode.
Lo’ak stood there for what seemed like forever, his mouth agape as if he was still prepared to tell Neteyam to not do it but someone had come along and used a freeze ray on him, solidifying him in this exact moment forever.. that was until he felt a large hand on his shoulder originating from behind him.
His eyes looked down at the hand on his shoulder, His cheeks flushed and his mind continued to blurt out one name ‘Tsireya?’ He admired the light blue skin, the lighter blues which seemed almost painted onto the top of the hand and the darker blues that danced across the skin in an almost wave-like formation. The whole hand in itself contrasted his own blue skin. The hand slipped off of Lo’ak’s shoulder in a quick but unsure motion, forcing Lo’ak to turn around at the suddenness of it all.
His eyes widened at the person in front of him which caused them to tilt their head and look at Lo’ak with a strange expression.
“What? Still shocked that I won that fight?” Ao’nung snickers and a smug expression makes its way onto his previously weird look.
Lo’ak’s look quickly shifts from a lovesick Na’vi to annoyance, as he swiftly shoves past Ao’nung and makes his way to the beach portion of the island.
The sound of footsteps following behind him at different rates makes Lo’ak grin and look back at Ao’nung as he struggles to keep up with the ‘Forest Na’vi’.
Ao’nung comes to a stop next to Lo’ak, obviously struggling to catch his breath but he attempts to hide it through quiet coughs and avoiding eye contact with Lo’ak.
“Why’re you in such a rush?” Ao’nung manages to cough out finally after choking on his own breath for a while.
“Didn’t think you were excited to be training with me.” Ao’nung laughs, almost howling at the excuse of a joke he made. Lo’ak just grimaces and shakes his head.
“I’m just excited to finally beat your ass in a water race.” He snickers, slapping Ao’nung on the back and sprinting through the warm sand to meet his Ilu which was already waiting near the beach for him.
Ao’nung runs with Lo’ak and calls his own Ilu, laughing as Lo’ak clumsily tries to connect the bond with his Ilu.
“You, a forest Na'vi, think you can beat me in a ‘water race’? We will see.” Lo’ak watches as Ao’nung carefully and almost perfectly leaps onto the back of his own Ilu and makes the bond. He meets Ao’nung’s eyes and a hint of mischief shoots through them as he takes off on his Ilu.
Lo’ak sits there for a moment not registering what had happened until Ao’nung halts his progression through the water and calls out to Lo’ak.
“What’s wrong? Don’t think you can win the race?” The laugh Ao’nung let’s out is loud enough to make Lo’ak turn his head towards the source of the noise, he remembers that he and Ao’nung are supposed to be racing and he smirks.
Lo’ak finally begins his approach and what he believes is an easy victory. He dives into the water with his Ilu, time seemingly going in slow motion as his eyes open and appreciate the sheer beauty of the water, he leans back slowly to feel the water rushing against his face and into the crooks of his scalp. As soon as he reappears from the water he realises Ao’nung is already far ahead of him. He growls and lets out a sound similar to a war cry as he commands his Ilu to speed up so he can catch this asshole.
The water gets more rough and aggressive as they get further out from their home, dashing over waves in such a way that it boosts themselves and their Ilu’s out of the air.
He’s right behind Ao’nung now as the strength of the waves boosted him towards his goal, he reaches one arm out, using his other to balance himself against his Ilu, he wobbles as he stands up, looking down at the water as if he was standing at the foot of a skyscraper, he forces himself to look up and grab Ao’nung, but before he can he feels the pressure of something being forced into his face and a wetness.
Lo’ak slips off of his Ilu, disconnecting from his bond and falling into the raging water with a splash. He swims frog-like up to the surface, taking a deep breath before being pushed back down by the force of the waves.
‘Asshole.’ Was all Lo’ak was thinking as he watched Ao’nung’s Ilu circle above him and listened to the hearty laughs bursting out of Ao’nung.
He watches as Ao’nung leans down and lets one hand rest in the water.. ‘He wants to help me up?’ Lo’ak scrunches up his face in disbelief, he doesn’t fully trust Ao’nung but he doesn’t want to be the boy that almost died twice in a month so he accepts Ao’nung’s hand.
Lo’ak gasps so hard that he has a coughing fit from trying to practically eat up all of the oxygen in the air, Ao’nung just turns to look at Lo’ak, seeming quite annoyed that he decided to push Lo’ak into the water and now he has to deal with the repercussions of Lo’ak attempting to drain all of the oxygen from the air.
When his coughs die down Lo’ak realises that Ao’nung has already begun the trip back to the village, he tilts slightly ever so often so he can see how distant their home is.
Their collective silence is broken by Ao’nung smugly, “I hope we know who’s better at water races now.” Lo’ak gives Ao’nung an angry look even though he’s focused on what’s ahead of them, looking as if he was attempting to burn holes through him but Lo’ak doesn’t say anything, not about how Ao’nung cheated in the beginning of the race or how Ao’nung splashed water into his face so he’d fall off of his Ilu.. Even if he was technically trying to push him off of his own Ilu.. Lo’ak would just let him believe he won the race, even though in his mind he won. He’ll have to do a lot of convincing to make sure Rotxo, Kiri, Neteyam and Co. knew he won the race though.