or 20-year-old Aonung saw the 28-year-old firstborn of Toruk Makto first setting foot on Awa’atlu and immediately ’wanted that cookie’. (He bit off more than he can chew.)
(here)
Aonung had been taking the weaving lesson as his chance to be all touchy-feely with the man. Excessively adjusting Neteyam's hands even though the Omatikaya was learning impressively fast, letting his touch linger. All the while, Neteyam simply shrugged off the touchiness, and kept on treating him like he was his baby brother.
So, in that second, when Aonung's hands were holding Neteyam's, but the man was busy comparing the Metkayina's hands to his own hands back when he was 20, the actual 20-year-old there snapped — from both impatience and mild irritation.
He abruptly adjusted his hands, intertwined his fingers with Neteyam, and looked at the mildly taken aback Omatikaya as he said matter-of-factly:
"I think you'd look even hotter if you stop treating me like I'm your brother.”
Right to Neteyam's face.
The Omatikaya had kept his face carefully blank for a beat or two after that — before he wordlessly took his hands out of Aonung's and left unceremoniously.
or 20-year-old Aonung saw the 28-year-old firstborn of Toruk Makto first setting foot on Awa’atlu and immediately ’wanted that cookie’. (He bit off more than he can chew.)
He's a cat person. He has a black cat he cares for dearly. He knows black cats are lucky. He takes his cats on walks with him on a leash and taught his cat to climb on his shoulders in case a dog approaches.
He reads. A lot. He has a bunch of books he reads and rereads, he's reads classical books like Pride and Prejudice and so on. He also book annotate. If he has a YouTube channel, I'd probably be about books. Like his thoughts and recommendations.
I see him being a goth/punk. He doesn't really dress the part, but shares the same opinions.
His favorite sanrio character is Chococat. He has a lot of things chococat. From plushies, keychains, pens, coin pouches, and so on.
He listens to Lana del Rey. He isn't ashamed of it. He likes her music. He has CDs, Vinyl and cassettes of her albums. He also likes to listen to the Weeknd, The Smiths and Childish Gambino.
He likes to play Minecraft (he falls asleep to Minecraft music), Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Animal crossing.
He has a bunch of keychains. He puts a lot of keychains on his bag and they jiggle each step he takes.
He always carries a tumbler filled with ice water. It's a forest green one with a bunch of stickers. He always offers people water if they're thirsty.
He loves cucumber water. He always buys cucumbers to make his water. He shares his cucumber water with Kiri and Tsireya.
He wears jewelry, gold jewelry. Specially hoop earrings either small or big. Don't matter, he wears them. He also wears rings, chains and bangles. It doesn't necessarily have to be gold, he'll wear whatever you gift him regardless.
He always smells good. No matter what. He smells good. He smells like he just stepped out of a forest/green house. He never smells bad, ever.
His first job was him working as a Barista.
He knows how to crochet and is really good at it. You'll catch him making something new every week. He'll make stuff for people's birthdays, anniversaries or just because.
He knows how to braid hair. He's started to braid his own hair when he turned 13. (He also takes good care of his hair). He'll occasionally braid Tuk's hair when Neytiri can't.
pairing: Neteyam x fnavi!reader (Norm's daughter but not really)
summary: You grew up around the science sorties, around Norm, around Max, so naturally, you were good at what they were. But you were also bad at what they were, so talking to the one boy who gives you butterflies becomes the hardest task, you try make a run for it that has a happy ending :)
warnings: Pining, little fluff, yearning
word count: 1,4k words
Quick note: for this story, it's basically Norms' adopted daughter x Neteyam. A little backstory on her so you don't get confused (whoops). Y/N is very, very into her compooters, she's basically a little girly version of Norm, who's obsessed with the science of Pandora, but poor girl struggles to connect her Na'vi side :(
You woke up to the buzzing again. The kind of buzz that enveloped your limbs like a fingerprint. It's what you were used to.
Neytiri always said that metal poisons the soul, that touching it would stain the very fingerprints that you needed to know yourself. But how were you supposed to leave it be when the screens beside Norm always knew so much? Perhaps you didn't care so much about your fingerprints. Or perhaps these plastics didn't belong on this planet, and you had felt the same.
You sat in front of a blue-lit screen once more, Norm talked about something you had long started to ignore. Not on purpose, of course. He was just too charismatic for your sanity to handle. You sat close by, shoulders hunched as you dragged your fingers against the metal borders of the screen, the neon veins in front of you pulsed in rhythms you felt in your own.
"It's incredible, isn't it? They act just like ours sometimes - "
The door behind both of you opened with a small gust of air, as three Na'vi walked towards you.
"Y/N! Norm!" Kiri waved her hand, greeting as she walked past towards her mother's tank. Spider and Lo'ak were following closely behind her, arguing, probably their twelfth argument of the day. Neteyam, a few steps behind, cautiously walked towards the desks. His eyes were scanning the screens as they always did.
For you, the white lights became the sun; for him, they were still as alien as a bow was to you.
"Hey," he smiled, his head tilting slightly as he made his way just a step closer to you.
"Hi," you smiled at him, quickly looking back down at your screen.
Neteyam was tall. You hated that. He was built strong. You hated that too.
You were never embarassed of who you were. You were curious, you were smart (in the Norm way), and you were soft. You knew exactly which vein the needle went through, which tree roots showed the most pulses on screen, and which plants worked best for Max's medicine cabinet. However, your navi side didn't come naturally to you. And when Neteyam stood so close, very much a warrior and very much Navi, it made you cower just a little.
You got up quickly, making your way around the lab, bumping into the tables as you tried to create as much distance between you and him as you could.
Except he seemed to be connected to you like a wire as his footsteps followed closely behind yours.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he continued to close the gap between you, his hands locked together behind his back.
"Walking," you said simply.
You made your way closer to the corridors of the lab.
"Where to?"
"Guess," you said as you stopped right outside the door of your bedroom.
Neteyam's canines showed as he smiled in front of you. Your back pressed slightly too hard against your door.
"Are you going inside or are you just going to stare at me?" he asked softly enough for his voice not to travel down the corridor.
"I could do both," you said as your hand turned the door handle.
Your room was impractical. Most navi were outside the lab, with their families, around the fires they built, while you stayed in the lab. It's not like you didn't have the option. Jake offered you many times to have your own little place near theirs, but every time, you refused. You weren't quite sure how to explain it, but you just hated how dark it got inside the caves. Here, your computers plastered on almost every table gave you a sense of comfort only a medical professional could explain.
You stepped closer to your bedside table, placing down a small wire you stole from Norm.
"What's that?" Neteyam asked, his eyes moving up your arm.
"Just a wire. I thought I could use it to fix one of the screens in here," you said.
You busied yourself with trying to find it. It's not that it was weird to have him in your bedroom. He'd been here multiple times. Just not alone. Normally, Lo'ak's teasing or Kiri's laughter filled the room, but right now it was just the sound of him and his lungs.
"It's dark in here," Neteyam pointed out as if you couldn't tell the dimness of your own room.
"Are you sure?" you asked him rhetorically as you made your way to a desk, a smile tugging at your lips.
He only scoffed in response.
You flicked the switch of your computer like machine, whatever Normed called it, and just like that, every light from the screens flickered throughout your room.
Norm had shown you images of Earth. But even just from the few you got to see, you felt something tug at your fingertips. Something about the lights, the dark, vast emptiness around them, made your fingers pull towards the screen. To know what it would feel like to touch air so thin.
You never told anyone.
It was bad enough you were the one Na'vi that couldn't remember her own songcord, you knew that this secret of yours would make you a downright outcast.
"It's all blue," Neteyam really seemed to love to point out the obvious.
"You're all blue," you smiled at him, as if you'd achieved some comedic honour.
"Why blue?" he turned his eyes to the screens.
"See those?" You pointed towards a screen closest to your right.
"Those are like our veins, pulsing through the roots of the tree just outside camp," you spoke as you stared at it.
"And they're all different, in their own way, just like us. Just like fingerprints. I guess it's just comfortingly neon," you looked back at him.
"Neon?" his left brow bone raised just a bit, head tilting.
"Bright and blue," you nodded as your eyes drifted away from the screen again as he took a step towards your frame.
You looked up at him, his eyes already looking at yours. You traced every detail of them, from the large dark pupils to the liquid lines between the specks of gold.
"Come with me," he said breaking whatever staring contest you had.
His long fingers came to rest on your shoulder as if to wake you.
"Where?" you asked, your heart pulsing at a rate you didn't like.
"Just follow me," he said as he made his way to the door, his hand sliding down from your shoulder and into your hand. You weren't sure how, but your hand responded quickly, engulfed between his as your fingertips gripped his knuckles.
And you did as he said. You followed him. Through the corridors. Past Norm. Past Lo'ak snickering at you. Through the forest.
He stopped briefly, turning back to look at you. Your hand still tightly in his.
"Close your eyes," ironically his sparkled brightly.
You huffed a short laugh.
"Are you implying I trust you enough to do that?" you teased him.
"I would hope so," he stepped a little closer as he made his way behind you, bringing his other hand to your eyes. And just like that, you listened to him again. Eyes closed, you walked forward as he guided you wherever he wanted you to go.
"If I get bitten by a nantang I blame you," you said, slightly uncordinated as you stepped through the forest floor.
"You'll be fine," he laughed.
His voice brushed past your ears so softly you felt them twitch.
"Okay, now keep them closed."
The pressure of his hand disappeared from your eyes.
His other in yours still stayed. Fingers wrapped so tightly you swore you could feel every curve of his fingerprints.
He walked you a few more steps forward. The sound of the night forest slightly quieter than a few minutes ago, only the sounds of a river in the distance and Kenten nearby.
"Open them," his voice softer than sap.
You opened your eyes.
Blue.
That's all you could see.
But as your eyes adjusted, that's when you noticed every detail of the forest. You'd never gone out this far before. And now you wondered why not.
Your eyes scanned every curve of light, every patch of liquid darkness.
And Neteyam scanned you. Every curve of your arms, the tanhi on your torso that looked like splattered milk.
You turned to look back at him.
"Why'd you bring me here?" you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to."
hsidfgiwauefbiwebdviwubdvweu I love this character so much, but for some reason, I swear my writing feels so short, so this will DEFINITELY have a part 2!
