~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Wonderfully wrong.

"Look who's awake." Neteyam repeated, unsure of what to say. Jake just chucked and came forward, before craning down and pulling his son's head against his chest. Neteyam was tired, sore, and nauseous, so he found himself leaning into Jake a little. Or maybe it was just the relief of having his father near him again.

Jake cupped the side of Neteyam's face a little before he finally pulled back, his usual stoney expression now warm. Then, he waved his hands at his other children, "C'mon, guys. Hop out--I guess we're wakin' up early today."  

Lo'ak, Spider, Kiri, and Feya all carefully stepped over Neteyam and climbed out of the hammock, the girls much more graceful than the boys, who just landed on their feet as awkwardly as possible. Jake guided them into the main section of the marui and when they were gone, he walked around the hammock and grabbed the plastic bag that was attached to the tube in Neteyam's chest. 

After standing still for a second, Jake let out a heavy sigh and placed his hand across Neteyam's head again, his demeanor endearing and maybe even vulnerable. "I missed you so much, boy. You have no idea how much I missed you. But you scared the crap out of me." 

His body laying limply inside the inward curve of the hammock, like a cocoon, a weak smile played on Neteyam's lips. He felt so small as he looked up at his father, his good eye drooping with fatigue, but for once he didn't care about feeling small. He cared that he was home now and safe with his family. No matter how much pain he was in, that was what he would focus on. His family. "I'll try—" Neteyam winced, his ribs protesting at the continuous use of his voice. "I'll try not to do that anymore." 

Jake gave him an amused look and held the little plastic bag up. "I'm gonna hold you to that. Linagin's coming by to take this out later," he said, "Then Ronal will come check on you." 

Neteyam sighed and looked away, his ears lowering. He was grateful to Ronal, and especially Linayin, but any more talk of medicine or being 'checked up' on was making his insides bitter with distaste. If the Tsahik who was checking up on him was his grandmother, maybe he'd feel differently. But she wasn't, and instead the Tsahik was the insanely pregnant, extremely grumpy, sharp-tongued reef queen. 

Neteyam eventually just nodded and pulled himself up, jerking his arms forward in order to get out of the hammock. When he did, flares of pain shot up his shoulder and he cried out, unprepared for the sudden agony. 

Jake rushed to his side and gently placed Neteyam's arm back in its original position, folded and pressed to his side. There was a firm bandage covering his shoulder than he hadn't noticed before. Then the memories of being shot again came flooding back to him, and he tried his best to push the thoughts away. 

"Don't move too much," Jake chided, "I'll help you get up if that's what you want." 

Everything felt backwards again. He was back to square one. He didn't want his father's help to do something simple like get out of a hammock--he was fifteen years old, and he was capable of doing so many things without help from anyone. But this was practically worse than torture. He didn't know how to respond, so he just looked up at Jake, "I can do it." 

"No, you can't." Jake simply stated, shaking his head. "Just let me help you." 

When the older man attempted to reach out and grab Neteyam, he reeled back and blurted, "Then I don't want to get out." 

Jake blinked in surprise, his jaw muscles working. He slowly retracted his arms and leaned back. "So, you don't want to get up?"

"Not... not yet." Neteyam responded, his voice frail. Guilt slowly ate away at his insides the moment those harsh words escaped him. He hadn't meant to be so rude with what he'd said, but he was too embarrassed to let his whole family watch him be lifted out of a stupid hammock by his father. By the mighty Toruk Makto. But that wasn't the only reason--he didn't feel well enough to go walking around the marui anyway. He didn't want to join his family yet. His whole body hurt enough from just shifting to the side.