Courting

Chapter 36

Je suis désolé que cela a pris si longtemps, j'ai travaillé très dur a école récemment, donc je n'ai pas beacoup de temps. Oui, je suis pratiquant mon français même si ne personne pas cette comprendra.

Sorry that this is taking such a long time, i have been working rlly hard at school recently so i don't have a lot of time. (yeah i wrote that in french bc im quirky and wanted to practice, if u dont understand it move on, if u do and im wrong, carry on)

Neteyam POV

"Of course Neteyam, anything." Tsireya smiled, a little unsurely. Neteyam sighed, hoping he was right and that smile wouldn't shatter.

"Lo'ak has been really worried over the past few weeks, and I just wanted to mention something to you, and try and help." Neteyam proceeded cautiously. Tsireya's smile lost some light, but her expression was confused and worried.

"Oh, is it- Did I-" Tsireya began, but Neteyam cleared his throat.

"No, it's not your fault, he's just... dealing with something," Neteyam clarified. She didn't seem less worried, but her face softened a little.

"What is it?" Tsireya looked upset now.

"He, um.. does he talk about home much?" Neteyam asked, trying to find a segue.

"Uh, yeah, kind of. He talks about the ikrans, and the trees. He said he could hear Eywa everywhere, and was sad he couldn't here. Is that what you're talking about?" Tsireya asked, eyes wide with concern.

"No. Well, maybe that too, but what I was going to say is-" Neteyam was about to mention Lo'ak's specific situation with Li'riyat, when the former interrupted him, having just returned.

"So, how bad is it?" Lo'ak half-joked, looking between Tsireya and Neteyam. Neteyam choked.

"I hadn't, um, got to that... yet," Neteyam trailed off. Lo'ak blinked, and Tsireya looked more confused and concerned than ever.

"How bad is what? Gotten to what? Guys, what's going on?" Tsireya rapid-fire asked the questions, and Lo'ak's face fell. Neteyam grabbed his arm.

"Bro, I can still do it if you need me to, I'm here to help-" Neteyam told Lo'ak, who lightly pushed his hand away.

"Don't worry. It's karma for me that I couldn't do it anyway. You did enough by just offering, thank you." Lo'ak gave a nervous, weak grin. Neteyam raised his eyebrows, and Lo'ak nodded slightly.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later, then." Neteyam turned away and walked off slowly, trying to seem casual. The second he knew they could no longer see him, and wouldn't be looking at him anyway, Neteyam broke into a jog and went to find Ao'nung.

HIs first thought was to check the reef or community eating areas to find his boyfriend in the middle of his duties, but then he remembered Tsireya saying he was still in bed. Neteyam rolled his eyes and sighed to himself as he trudged the other way towards the Chief's marui. When he arrived, it was empty except for a tangle of blankets across from the doorway, and the greeny-blue limb sticking out from the bottom.

Neteyam walked in, as neither the Chief nor his Ronal were there, and kicked Ao'nung's leg.

"Hey, skxawng, wake up," Neteyam laughed as Ao'nung rolled over and into a very solid looking chest. Sitting up and rubbing his head, Ao'nung glared around.

"What the- Oh, morning Tey. Something special happening or do you enjoy watching me suffer?" Ao'nung asked as he sat up with some difficulty and much reluctance.

"Firstly, 'morning' is only acceptable for about five more seconds; lunch is gonna be in a minute. Second, yes, and third, yes," Neteyam stood with his hands on his waist, not missing Ao'nung's eyes following them.

"Do tell." Ao'nung grinned as he stood up. Neteyam grabbed his hand and began to pull him out of the marui, when Ao'nung yanked his hand back "Woah," he said. "Wouldn't want to put me on display just yet, would you?" Neteyam didn't know what he meant, until he noticed Ao'nung wasn't wearing his-

"Oh my fucking god," Neteyam spun the other way, while Ao'nung began laughing.

"What, unpleasant image?" Ao'nung asked Neteyam's back.

"Some warning would've been good," Neteyam mumbled, crossing his arms. Ao'nung spun him back around, now decent, and smirked at him.

"But then you wouldn't be blushing, would you?" Ao'nung winked smugly, and Neteyam looked down.

"Oi, eyes up here babe." Ao'nung tipped Neteyam's chin back up. When Neteyam couldn't say anything, Ao'nung grabbed his hand and walked outside. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? Or did you wake me up to try and sneak a look at-" Before Ao'nung could finish the sinful accusation, Neteyam interjected.

"Right." He shook his head a bit. "So, I just left Lo'ak and Tsireya on the beach..." Ao'nung seemed to sober some, and looked across to him.

"And, do you think it's going alright?"

"Well, I couldn't even bring it up in time," Neteyam shrugged. "I was trying to ease into it, but Lo'ak got back too quickly and I didn't get a chance. Then, he told me not to worry about it, and that he could handle it." Neteyam waited for Ao'nung to say something, to interrupt the pounding thoughts in his head. What if Tsireya didn't understand? What if Lo'ak was right and she would feel betrayed? What if Lo'ak blamed Neteyam for pushing it? Was it his fault? Thankfully, Ao'nung did just that.

"So you got out of awkwardly introducing your brother's potential side-piece back home to his girlfriend? Seems like a win-win to me; you don't have to do that, and he is doing it himself now," Ao'nung shrugged. Neteyam knew Ao'nung didn't actually believe Lo'ak would purposely hurt Tsireya, so he chose to ignore the dig at his brother, as Ao'nung was just being protective.

"Well it was still very, very awkward. But," Neteyam sighed. "What if it goes bad? What if Tsireya doesn't understand? What if Lo'ak says the wrong thing? If it goes badly, he's going to blame me because it will be my fault." Neteyam's voice cracked, and suddenly he realised how upset he was, and Ao'nung seemed to come to the same realisation.

"Hey, it's not. Hear me? Not your fault, okay?" Ao'nung stopped walking and pulled Neteyam to his chest, enclosing his arms under the shorter boys arms and around his back. Neteyam tried to shake his head, but Ao'nung didn't let him. "No, okay? All you did was try and help him, and he chose to do this, okay? You're not even the one talking about it at all, he's doing it all. So, this isn't your fault. And who knows, maybe it will be fine. My sister isn't dumb, and she is the most empathetic person I have ever met," Ao'nung reassured Neteyam, rubbing small circles in the small of his back. Neteyam sniffed, and pulled his head back, looking up at Ao'nung.

Neteyam caught his breath, and nodded towards the area of beach he left his brother not to long ago. "Should we go see if it's alright?" he asked. Ao'nung shrugged.

"May as well, I'm too awake to sleep again now." He winked, and held Neteyam's hand again as they walked in the direction Neteyam had nodded. While they walked, Ao'nung stroked his thumb over Neteyam's knucles, setting his boyfriend's hand on fire. Neteyam was sure Ao'nung knew exactly what he was doing. When he came out of his distraction, Neteyam looked ahead as they came around a corner, opening to the beach. Before he could look around for his brother, Tsireya walked quickly past them, curly hair flying out behind her in the breeze. Neteyam's head whipped back around to face the water, and his hand flew to his mouth. Lo'ak was looking out over the water, shoulders shaking, head in his hands. Seeming to sense their presence, Lo'ak spun around, caught sight of Neteyam, and immediately turned the other way and walked quickly around the back of a marui. Neteyam choked, about to follow him. Ao'nung held him tight.

"Let me go! I need to talk to him, to help-" Neteyam struggled weakly, voice breaking.

"Right now, he is not going to listen to anything. Give it a little, let him process. You don't even know what happened yet. Perhaps Tsireya is just taking a moment to process too, and they've worked it out," Ao'nung said the last part half-heartedly. Neteyam would've sank to his knees if Ao'nung wasn't there. "It's not your fault, okay? This is out of your control." Ao'nung said into Neteyam's hair.

"It's not his fault either!" Neteyam's voice was too broken for his words to form properly.

"I didn't say that," Ao'nung replied calmly, not moving.

"All because someone loved him, and he loved him..."