Work Text:
Jake stood near the entrance, arms crossed. “What were you thinking?” Jake said. His voice was controlled, but that somehow made it worse. “It’s past eclipse again and you just arrived home”
Lo’ak laughed under his breath. “That’s it?” he asked. His voice intimidating.
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Watch your tone”
“I’m serious” Lo’ak said, stepping forward. His hands were shaking now, but he didn’t care. He had enough. “You didn’t even ask why, you never do”
Jake exhaled slowly. “You’re supposed to follow orders. That’s how this works, and you can’t even get that right?”
Lo’ak snapped. “Yeah I can't get it right, happy?” Silence dropped between them, the atmosphere was tense and thick.
Lo’ak swallowed, his throat burning. “You never listen! No matter what I do”
Jake scoffed. “Because you keep messing up every damn thing i tell you not to”
Lo’ak froze. “I keep messing up?” His voice rose—angrier. “You think I want this? You think I wake up every day trying to disappoint you?”
Jake didn’t answer fast enough. “I’m trying,” Lo’ak said, louder now. “I’m trying so hard and it’s never enough for anyone. You never see me trying, all you see is all my mistakes. I failed. Everything wrong you see” He pauses. “But do you see that I've been trying?
“You don’t even look at me,” Lo’ak shot again. “Ever since Neteyam—” His voice broke, shaking and unsteady. “Ever since he died, it’s like I don’t exist unless I mess up.”
“It’s not fair that you only act like he was the only son you had!” Lo’ak yelled.
The words hit the room like a slap.
Jake’s face hardened. “Don’t talk about your brother like that.”
“See? See?! That’s all you see. Everything ‘wrong’ I do. I'm literally just proving a point yet that’s also wrong to you somehow? Are you just mad that I’m right? Huh?!”
Jake looked at him with his eyebrows furrowed. He didn’t answer but his eyes already showed the answers.
Lo’ak said, tears finally spilling. “I’m talking about you. Answer damn it!” He pushes his father, making his father stumble upon his push.
Jake staggered back a step, catching himself just before he hit the wall. For a split second, he had the urge to fight. His eyes flashed
“Watch It—” he snapped—but paused.
Lo’ak wiped his face roughly, breathing hard. “You don’t see me. Do you even love me dad? All I've done in my life is just mess up apparently huh? I tried dad. I TRIED!”
Jake took a step forward. “Lo’ak—”
“No,” Lo’ak said, backing away. “Don’t call me like that”
His chest hurted. Everything hurted.
“I needed you,” he whispered, voice trembling. “I needed my dad but you were never there”
Jake’s expression finally shifted. The anger faltered, replaced by something close to shock.
A long silence stretched between them.
“I’m always the problem,” Lo’ak continued, softer now. “The loud one. The reckless one. The one you yell at” He laughed weakly.
“If I die, that would make things go easier, right?”
Jake opened his mouth, then closed it again. That hurt most of all. Lo’ak thought his father would say something. But instead—he didn’t at all.
Lo’ak’s laugh cracked. “Wow,” he said, voice rising again. “You’ve got nothing to say now?”
His hands clenched into fists at his sides. He shook his head, words spilling faster. “You yell at me my whole life, and when I finally say it out loud—when I finally stop holding it in you just stay silent?”
Jake took a breath. “Lo’ak, calm down—”
“No!” Lo’ak snapped louder, spinning back toward him. “Don’t tell me to calm down!”
His voice echoed off the walls, raw and shaking with rage. “You trained me to be tough, to take it—now who's the ‘weak’ one here?” Jake flinched as he recalled everything he had taught him.
Lo’ak stepped closer again, close enough that Jake could feel the heat of his anger. “Im tired of being compared with every single person you see. This is me, dad. Yes, call me reckless, stubborn, I don't care. But that’s just me dad, and you can’t seem to accept your own son?”
“It’s me dad, Lo’ak”
Jake stiffened as Lo’ak said his name like that. Lo’ak pointed a finger at his chest. “I am right here. Why is that never enough for you?”
Lo’ak’s breathing was ragged now, as if he was about to scream something he couldn’t take back. “You don’t talk to me. You talk at me”
“No that---”
“Then say it!” Lo’ak yelled. “Say that I’m not a mistake”
Jake opened his mouth—but nothing came out. Lo’ak stared at him, disbelief.
“Unbelievable” he whispered, then louder, “Fucking unbelievable!!” He laughed.
Lo’ak’s anger spiked at the sight of his father. “Say something!” he shouted. “Yell back! That’s what you’re good at, right?”
Jake flinched again, finally taking a step forward. “Lo’ak… I never meant to—”
“But you did,” Lo’ak snapped, leaving his father to stop.
Lo’ak turned away. “I’m done trying to prove myself to you, hate me all you want, im fucking done” He walked past Jake, his heart pounding.
Jake stood alone in the quiet marui, the echo of his son’s words lingering long after the door had stopped shaking.
Behind him, Jake finally spoke. “Lo’ak—wait.”
Lo’ak spun around so fast it made Jake flinch once again. “Wait for what?” he barked. “For you to yell again? For another lecture? Or are you gonna pretend this never happened?”
Jake took another step forward. “Please son”
Lo’ak laughed, sharp and bitter. “Oh, now you care?” His voice cracked, “Now I’m your son?”
“I don’t care what you wanna say. I’m fucking done with your bullshit”
Lo’ak finally turned around and left the marui.
Jake stood frozen, staring at the empty space where his son had been. His ears ringing, replaying the words "It’s me, dad. Lo’ak" echoing over and over in his head.
***