The Oceans Surrounding Us - Neteyam | One shot
Synopsis: Y/N can’t handle her feelings for Neteyam, she’d been avoiding him for weeks but instead of making herself feel better all she could feel was a stab to the heart. On a night far after eclipse she decides to escape to the forest, unknowing, Neteyam followed her.
The stars in the sky were covered by the tall trees of the forest, but the beautiful luminescence of the plants made up for it; she’d always find herself walking into the unknown of the forest. Searching for the glow that calmed her nerves and set her at piece during a rough time. It was after hours, an unsafe time as Sky People would come and search the glory of the woods. Y/N sat in the pond near a waterfall—The water would ripple with every touch and glow a light blue that’d reflect against her skin.
She closed her eyes and embraced the wind that surrounded her in a whirl—Tears slowly fell in a stream from her shut eyes. She took a deep breath in; holding it for a few seconds. Y/N was at a state of tranquility with no interruptions, no fears and thoughts. The ever-glowing vibrant plants surrounding her blew in the wind, dancing. A smile spread across her face, revealing her canines. Atokarina’ started to float and rest on her skin; the white seeds seemed to be attracted to her energy. When she exhales the atokarina’ flew away only to be drawn back to her.
She blinked her eyes open and realized the beauty happening before her. She giggled like a child, all the thoughts of anguish and sadness were long forgotten. “Thank you great mother,” she whispered. Slowly, she rose from the pond. The seeds still stuck onto her. The snap of a twig was heard from the plants; immediately, her head jerked in that direction and instinctively she grabbed her dagger. A figure around Na’vi height started to emerge from the bushes, she took a step closer, trying to make the face out of the form in the night’s darkness.
As soon as the figure stepped a foot out of the leaves, Y/N tackled it to the ground hissing. Her knife was automatically firmly pressed onto their neck. “It’s just me!” They pleaded. She turned her head to the side, finally she noticed the face of the person.
She got off of him. She offered her hand to him to help him up but he shook his head. He dusted himself off but she smacked the side of his arm, “You scared me, Neteyam!” She huffed, picking up her belongings.
He hissed at the impact, gently rubbing his arm. “I noticed you were gone,” he rolled his eyes. “Why are you out so late? Wait no, why are you out during Sky People patrols?!” He whisper yelled.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she mumbled with her back facing him.
“Yeah excuse you,” she said before she ran off into the forest.
Neteyam yelled her name but got no response. He grimaced, he didn’t wanna go after her; especially this late at night, but he had to. He shook his thoughts out of the way and started chasing after her into the brush.
Y/N giggled as she pushed through the leaves. She spread her legs further and picked it up quicker whenever she felt his presence inch closer. Her name was called from a distance, she could hear it from a few feet away. She came to a stop, placing her hands on her knees and panting relentlessly. The running noises from Neteyam halted as well; she thought nothing of it but started turning her head in different directions to find him. Her back faced a bush, she backed up slowly with the hope that maybe he would walk through the leaves in front of her.
Her giddiness turned into fear. Her back hit something, her eyes widened. She turned around to see a heavy breathing Neteyam, relief swarmed her. “Oh Great Mother, I’m so happy it’s y-“
“Get down!” He quietly demanded, he hugged her by her shoulders and pulled her to the ground with him. Large footsteps could be heard from the plants surrounding them but no native Na’vi would be out in the forest at this hour. They heard a male voice say ‘all clear’ before it walked away. They stayed quiet until they heard the rustling in the grass fade away. Y/N looked up to see Neteyam somewhat ‘on the look out’ but she also noticed how close she was to him, she could reach her arms out and embrace them around his waist; she felt herself wanting to, though. Her heart was about to pound out of her chest and blood rushed up to her cheeks.
He looked down, his eyes slightly widened when he realized the intimate position the two of them were in. He stuttered apologies and had already removed himself from your shoulder but his touch lingered longer than it should’ve. Y/N rested her hand on the skin he touched and used her free hand rest on her heart. and smiled to herself.
“I uh- sorry,” he stuttered. He moved a few inches further from her, she felt a drop of woe wash her. “We should probably get going or we’ll both have our asses served on a plate.”
She laughed, “It wouldn’t be smart to leave now, we’d be caught by soldiers before we could make it back.” Her hand felt through the grass and out of habit picked at it. Neteyam reached over to rest his hand on her’s. She pulled it away and made her eyes scan everywhere but him. “Let’s just stay here, yes? I’m sure they can’t stay up all night and they even failed to find us right now.”
He frowned, “Sure,” his voice was barely even a whisper.
They shuffled in the grass for a but and laid down with their backs facing each other. They were a fair distance from each other, if they flipped over then their noses would be near-close to touching. Y/N has known Neteyam since he was a child. They grew up with each other and were inseparable, nothing changed, and her feelings for him never did either. She dreamed that one day they would be life long mates. She knew she couldn’t have him though; he thought of her as technically family so whenever they would hug or share the same bed it was nothing but platonic, tonight was different.
A few hours had passed and Y/N felt like drowsiness has been stripped from her. She was tired, but not enough to sleep. Neteyam is in deep sleep and had been moving and mumbling in his rest. As a final attempt to rest, she closed her eyes, feeling the grass, feeling Pandora. She felt the breathing of Eywa and heard the wind whistling. Her breaths became more calculated, sleep visited her finally and she dozed off.
The grass’s movement rippled like a water drop, this action was synced with Y/N’s breathing and the whispers of the trees and plants swarmed her with a song that only she could hear until she abruptly woke up the next morning.
Y/N woke up with a pounding head and the feeling of her waist being slightly constricted. The bright glare from the sun didn’t help her headache. She looked down to see Neteyam’s arm wrapped firmly wrapped around her torso and it was pulled to her stomach. It’s like she’s helped her clan be guided to victory so that she could be rewarded like this. A grin spread from ear to ear on her face as a flush crept up her face. She wouldn’t wanna be anywhere but with him.
“Lawnol,” he suddenly mumbled into her neck.
“Why were you out so late, ‘ong? Why were you so deep in the forest?” The innocence and warmth in his groggy voice made her heart swell. “Turn around please?”
She groaned but complied, and was met to see a beautiful Neteyam with half shut eyes that held the stars even in this daylight. His long braids fell over his jaw and his mouth formed a lazy smirk. She swallowed, maybe at the fact he looked madly pretty or because she didn’t wanna keep him waiting for a response that was never gonna come. “I can’t believe you still wear that necklace,” she chuckled and reached out to touch the beaded neck piece. “I gave it to you how long ag-“
“Stop,” he released her waist of his arm and used his hand to hold her’s. He placed his other hand on her cheek to make sure she was looking at him. “You’ve been avoiding me since the festival, I want you to talk to me, please.” A fear crossed her face, the desperation in his voice made her pounding heart swell to the point of explosion and she can’t face him with the truth.
“If I tell you,” her voice cracked. “You won’t look at me the same and will soon start to avoid me.” She sadly smiled, he frowned. He released her hand and stood up with a sigh. His towering figure blocked the sun’s merciless light from her eyes, which made her be able to see clearer. She muttered an apology but he reassured her it wasn’t needed.
“Let’s just go back home, my lawnol,” he let out his hand and she gratefully accepted. The nicknames he used on her will forever throw her into a frenzy. It was a day out and near eclipse, they were playing around and sparring with no fear of breaking bones. Neteyam had gotten a small cut on his cheek from her blade and in order to cheer him up, she kissed it. From that day on, she was addressed as “lawnol.” 
He made a high pitched call from his throat and an ikran with splashes of navy blue and black covering its body, speckles of yellow covered it generously along with aquas at the tip of its wings hovered down a tree rapidly flapping its wings. The aggressive winds could’ve thrown her off her feet.
When Y/N would fly with Neteyam, her mind would be a table and he is the centerpiece. It’s nothing but them in the skies, soaring amongst the mountains with the strong winds in their face. Her heart raced a little faster (a little faster than the usual 100mph around him), and her head rested upon his back. Her arms were tightly wrapped on his waist, she hummed along to a song that was sung to her years ago. He could feel the vibrations.
Neteyam banked a hard left and she nearly slid off the ikran. “Are you okay?” He asked.
She nodded vigorously before going back into her previous position.
The ride back was quiet, if the deafening winds weren’t there then it would be a comfortable silence with nothing but them in the world. She looked over to see the mountains in the sky, floated in all their glory. Thick vines fell from them loosely and big mounds of grass and trees coated the top. There were some that were like a mother and her child, a massive big island with a smaller, more inferior one next to it—it stuck close like its’ protector.
Maybe hours had passed and they were about a yard away from the nest. The ikran flew into the opening, and Neteyam could feel the backlash and swarms of people they were gonna get.
“They’re back!” A child exclaimed.
Y/N wasn’t happy with the sudden attention at all, her stomach churned and guilt washed her face. She looked over to see Neteyam with an unreadable expression, as if he’d done this many times before.
Jake pushed through the crowd and snarled—Neteyam still held that brave face, he was prepared for a slap clean across his stern look.
“What were you thinking?!” Jake scolded. His hands were flaring all over the place and his eyes bore into their soul. “Whose idea was this?” It sounded more of a statement than a question.
“It was my idea,” Neteyam sighed. His gaze was glued to the floor. His father scowled, he knew it wasn’t his fault. Y/N looked at the scene at hand, she knew how strict his father was from the stories he told her when they were alone. She knew it so well she could predict what he was gonna say next.
“Y/N,” Jake averted his attention to the girl. Her head chirped up to him immediately. She had to give credit to Neteyam for being able to endure a talk like this. He gave her a look that screamed ‘I know what happened,’ blood rushed to her head the faster the tension grew.
“I went out knowing that it was late, I knew how dangerous it was,” she paused. “I asked Neteyam to come with me and he said no but I-“
“That’s enough, your family has been worried sick, Y/N,” he bit into her imaginary wound when he said her name with such venom. “Go, I wanna talk to my son.” He jerked his head to the side and she slouched away behind them into the crowd—walking with her head hung low.
“Come with me,” Jake grabbed Neteyam’s arm and brought him into one of the tents. The crowd acknowledged this and separated back to what they were doing prior.
He explained everything that happened the night before, certainly that’d lessen whatever punishment his father had in mind. Jake crossed his arms, he nodded and hummed as his son told the story. Neteyam took note of this and stopped the telling, “Listen, I followed Lawnol willingly-“
“Lawnol?” Jake countered.
“Sorry, Y/N,” Neteyam cleared his throat.
His father saw the way his son fidgeted with his fingers and started to avoid eye contact at the name he gave his so-called ‘friend.’ Jake pinched between his eyes, he shook his head and motioned his hand towards the slit of the tent. “Go, you’re grounded.”
“Yes sir,” he muttered. Neteyam couldn’t even be mad because he knew it was reasonable, he couldn’t use his ikran until his father felt the punishment was over and had limited time to relax or have an outing with his friends. He folded over the canvas-like fabric of the shelter and left Jake in his thoughts.
Y/n felt it was pain itself to keep avoiding him. It’d been a week since that night and it lingered in the crowded space of the thing she failed to call her mind. She tried to keep up the routine of avoiding him but he made it difficult, his attempts to make conversation were cut short by the lack of response she’d give him. She tugged at his heart strings but unbeknownst him he walked over her heart.
She meticulously placed minuscule beads around a thick piece of rope long enough to wrap along her neck. Her back faced the crackling fire of the tent. They were in a certain pattern but her mind was too clouded with a certain boy. She growled and stopped what she was doing when she noticed the wrong color bead was placed too far in to fix. Frustration took her hands and she threw the supposed-to-be necklace across the space.
Y/N snarled, her feet brought her up to walk outside only to meet a concerned Kiri.
“Woah. What happened?” she asked.
Y/N’s expression softened as she panted heavily. She straightened her posture and sighed. “You know..” she trailed off. Kiri looked inside the tent and saw the scattered arrangements of beads. “Come in, yea?”
They walked back inside and sat down on a crimson tinted cushion. Y/N explained to Kiri of the feelings she’d been experiencing toward Neteyam, the way it eats her from the inside out and how she can’t contain it. Kiri knew that she liked him, she always came to her to rant about how her act is slipping.
“I don’t what to do!” Y/N exclaimed, leaning forward. Kiri rolled her eyes, about to give her the same advice as always.
“Tell him,” she deadpanned.
“Because what if he doesn’t feel the same,” they said in unison—Kiri had a mocking tone.
“If it holds any consolation, he’s been miserable about you too,” she stood up and started walking around. “He literally cannot stop talking to us, about you, and how to make you not mad.”
“Really?” Y/N hugged the pillow in front of her stomach, her frustrated frown turned into an anticipating smile. Her eyes lit up and her mouth sewed a grin from ear to ear.
“He won’t shut up it’s so irritating! And y’know he won’t stop calling you ‘lawnol’ and it’s really hard to tell who he’s talking about,” her bottom lip jutted forward.
He thinks I’m mad? She thought. All the words Kiri said went through one ear and came out the other because Y/N held onto the fact that Neteyam was upset, because of her. “So, Neteyam thinks I’m mad at him?”
Kiri groaned and gripped her hair, “you weren’t even listening to me?!” Y/N blinked—her bright eyes sparked in confusion. “Y’know what? You’re hopeless I’m done,” Kiri laughed and sat back down.
Y/N shook the thought away, a smirk crept her face as an idea lit up in her head, “So,” she giggled. “What about that monkey boy?”
Y/N was in deep conversation with a boy named Kaìay; an ikran rider from the Tayrangi clan finding refuge after being separated from his family. “You don’t fly?” His eyes slightly widened.
“No,” she laughed. Her head slightly fell downward.
“What?!” He leaned forward a little bit. “Why? I’ve never met a na’vi that doesn’t fly.”
“Of course you haven’t!” She playfully pushed his shoulder, regaining a chuckled from him. “I don’t fly because I just am not interested in ‘warrior’ tactics I guess?”
She furrowed her brow bone, “I prefer different kinds of crafts, like jewelry and braiding hair.” The thought made her think of the time she picked Neteyam’s hair style and made his neckpiece, she dismissed it immediately.
“I see,” he nodded. Kaìay grabbed for her wrist softly, he caressed the hand crafted bracelet on her wrist. “So, you made this?” He smirked.
She was breathing bricks, her free hand went up to rub the back of her neck, “Yeah—yeah I did, I can make you one if you’d like?” He smiled a nod and went on with their conversation about different interests and his sudden change in environment.
Neteyam was carrying around bowls of fruit and a diverse kind of materials. His ear twitched at the familiar laughter of Y/N but an unknown voice of a male. He turned his head, and the sight before him made his blood boil. She was hand in hand with this stranger and laughing—what could this guy be saying that made her laugh like this?
He hid behind a tent. Neteyam could admit he was jealous, his best friend had been ignoring him for weeks and now this guy comes in and steals her away from him?
Kiri came across her brother’s figure huddled behind a tent, she approached him and the closer she got the more he could see what he was looking at. A devious smile crawled on to her face, “Whatcha looking at?”
He jumped out of his skin at his sister’s voice, “What the hell!” He grumbled.
He hid behind her brother and she raised her eyebrows, “he’s handsome, like a lot.” Neteyam gibbered nonsense in a high pitched voice, mocking her.
Lo’ak came across the scene and decided to join in too, he rested his head on his brother’s left shoulder. Neteyam acknowledged this and flayed his arms at them, he turned around, “You morons! What do you want?!”
“Shut up I wanna see this,” Lo’ak hit the side of his head and turned him back around. “Oh wow, he’s handsome.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Kiri pointed. “Oh my god are they holding hands?”
“That’s crazy,” Lo’ak added. “But look at him! He’s pretty buff . . . look at those red stripes!” Neteyam rolled his eyes.
“Oh shit bro, he’s telling her if she wants to fly with him,” Kiri snickered. “If you want a chance you better go interfere this is crazy.”
Neteyam couldn’t stand this (both his siblings and the chance of romance), he pushed his brother and sister aside and strode towards the two, his jaw clenched. He hated the fact he could hear what they’re saying but at the same time he wanted to know.
“Come on, tanhí-“ Kaìay got interrupted by the stomping figure of Neteyam.
“She only flies with one person and that’s me,” he pointed towards his chest. Y/N’s head went back and forth between Kaìay and Neteyam, this isn’t happening.
“I see you, brother,” Kaìay bowed. “But who are you?” He chuckled.
“Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk’itan, Toruk Makto’s son,” he bit back.
“Your rank does not scare me, Neteyam,” he crossed his hands behind his back.
Neteyam scoffed and grabbed Y/N’s arm, “What’re you-“ she was cut off when they entered the tent he hid behind. “Are you okay, Neteyam?”
“Am I okay?!” He repeated. He caught himself yelling at calmed down. “I’m—I’m sorry but how could you really ask me that?,” he laughed in disbelief.
“I don’t understand,” she frowned. Neteyam grabbed her shoulders and sat the both of them down, the same way he did that night.
“Why are you avoiding me?” he interlaced his fingers with her’s. Y/N turned her head to the side and swallowed.
She stayed silent, her eyes began to water. Neteyam acknowledged this and used his hand to grab her cheek, her eyes now looked to her feet. “Look at me, Lawnol.”
“When it was that night,” she started. “I went out because the feelings I had were— overwhelming.”
“The feelings I have for you,” the words wanted to crawl back inside her mouth but she sealed it with a smile. “I really like you, Neteyam. I been liking you ever since we were children.” She finally looked up at him and he saw tears run from her eyes. He used his thumb to wipe the stream. “I only realized it a month before the festival and when I had to dance with you I just couldn’t.”
“Did anyone know?” He squeezed her hand.
“Kiri did, I tell her everything,” she laughed. “You don’t have to say it back, if you don’t feel the same way you can leave.”
Neteyam was at a lost for words, his jaw went slack and the way she looked at him made his heart run miles. “I love you,” her breath hitched. His eyes filled with determination. “Just thinking about you makes my heart race,” he held her hand up to feel his chest. “Do you feel it?”
Y/N nodded, she could hear her heart beat through her ears. “When you stopped talking to me, life was a living hell,” he swallowed. “I was miserable—I’m sure Kiri told you.”
“Are you lying,” she narrowed her eyes.
Neteyam laughed in her face, he let go of her hand and placed his on her chin. He leaned in closer, she reciprocated. Neteyam took a deep breath in and pressed his lips against hers, it was soft and delicate. Shockingly, Y/N leaned in to deepen the kiss. With lack of experience it was a different feeling but it felt right—with him—with her.
Y/N pulled back first, they looked at each other for a bit but she saw the stars in his eyes. The way they lit up and sparked all because of her made her smile. They erupted into laughter and enjoyed the moment with each other. “What if I said yes to Kaìay?” She joked.
Y/N was about to talk but shut up immediately when they saw Lo’ak, Kiri, and Tuk fall through the entrance of the tent all on top of each other, “You idiot!” Kiri yelled.
Lawnol n. : joy , happiness
Tanhì n. : star , bioluminescent freckle
Author’s note: There’s nothing abt oceans in here ik disappointing but i hope it was enjoyed :) constructive criticism is appreciated
