Word count: 2,548 (approximately)
Neteyam x Aneya (human)
Angst to Fluff kinda
Warnings: anxiety
Requested by @BasmalaHesho
Aneya, a girl raised with Spider, was the complete opposite of him. She was a shy teenage girl, who hated walking out of the labs. However, she was somewhat friends with the Sully kids.
In attempts to help her come out her shell, Spider would often bring his friends over to the lab to spend time with Aneya. He tried his best to make her feel included. In fact, the Sully kids had taken a liking to Aneya, even if she was quiet most of the time.
It would take her some time to get comfortable every time they were over. Their tall statures freaked her out sometimes, since it was unnatural for her to see most of the time.
Neteyam was fond of her silent nature. He found her to be a peaceful and calm creature. While the others rushed her to be more out there, he had all the patience in the world when it came to her.
Spider didn't understand when Neteyam defended her introverted actions. He wanted to help her overcome her fears, not learn to live with them.
"Aneya!" Lo'ak calls out, looking for the human girl hiding in the labs.
"She's supposed to be here." Spider explains, helping him look around.
"Aneya! You promised!" Lo'ak continued his search, occasionally stumbling into scientists who grumbled at his interruption. "Are you sure she's here?" He asks Spider.
"She's just really good at hiding. Trust me, she doesn't go out if she doesn't need to." Spider walks over to the security office, finding a worker inside.
"How's it going Spider?" the worker asks.
"Can we check the footage real quick? We're trying to find Aneya."
The worker sighs, clicking a screen to zoom in on a vent. "She's in there. It's been half an hour and she still hasn't come out. Please get her out."
Spider nods, "Will do."
He takes Lo'ak and finds the vent the security worker showed him, knocking on it softly. "Aneya, are you there?"
Lo'ak's ears perk up as he hears a small squeak come from inside. "Mouse, we know you're in there," He calls, using the nickname the Sullys had given her.
Spider wasn't the only one called after an animal, he was just more used to it than Aneya was.
"Guys... I'm actually kind of uhm... stuck," she softly says, trying not to freak out.
"Shit, we'll get you out Aneya, hold on." Spider runs out in search of a loose pipe or crowbar he could use while Lo'ak stayed behind trying pull the vent door off with his hands and tail.
"I can stay in here, don't worry about it Lo'ak."
"You're hyperventilating-" He pulls harder, now slamming his tail against the middle to try and bend it. "Spider! Get back here!" He yells.
"Out of the way!" The human boy yells as he runs over. Lo'ak drops to the side as Spider lands a big hit on the vent door with a crowbar in his hand.
"Ow! Spider!" Aneya whined. The metal hit her slightly as it bent, hurting her in the process.
"Sorry, sorry!" Swiftly, Spider takes the door off, allowing her to crawl out from the vent.
She reveals herself to the guys as Lo'ak takes a breath from his small oxygen mask. "Do I really have to?" She asks, earning a grin from Lo'ak.
"You promised, Aneya." Lo'ak taunts, placing his hand on his hip.
"Maybe another day?"
"Aneya, you'll be fine." Spider smiles, trying to reassure her.
"We should hurry, the others are waiting," Lo'ak states, nodding his head toward the exit for them to follow.
"Others?" Aneya questions.
"Kiri and Tuk. Neteyam would have my head if he found out we are taking you out," The young Sully says, snickering in the process.
"He was against the idea?"
Spider scoffs. "Completely. He thinks it's dangerous, but you'll be fine. We got you," he says.
"Okay..."
———
They exited the lab after letting Norm know that they were taking Aneya with them. It was her first time willingly going out to explore, and she hated it so far.
"Spider, how come you wear these for so long? They're kinda uncomfortable." She points at the oxygen mask grasping at her face, which makes Spider smile.
"You get used to it." He shrugs.
They walk over to Kiri and Tuk, who have been waiting for them a while.
"Hi, Mouse!" Tuk greets as they come into view.
"What took you so long?" Kiri asks Lo'ak.
"She was stuck in a vent. Serves her right for trying to hide from us," He replies, snickering at the human girl.
"Mouse stuck in a vent?" Kiri jokes.
Aneya cringes, rubbing her arm as she tries to avoid the subject. "So... can I go back now?"
Spider scoffs, grabbing her arm to keep her from going away. "You've been out here for like five seconds."
"Yeah, chill out, cuz. You are going to be fine," Lo'ak says as he lightly pats Aneya's back.
Aneya thins her lips in thought before she starts walking into the forest nervously with the rest following behind.
"Woah, Mouse, you don't even know where you're going!" Spider exclaims as he starts speed-walking to be in front of her.
"I figure if I don't focus on my surroundings, I won't be as scared," she states, staring at the floor as she walks.
"If you hate the ground so much, you should go on the ikran!" Tuk excitedly suggested.
Aneya stopped in her tracks, making eye contact with the youngest Sully. "An ikran?"
———
"I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea!" Aneya yells aloud as she rides on the back of Lo'ak's ikran, holding her arms tightly around his waist.
"Slow down, Lo'ak! You are scaring her!" Kiri yelled from her own ikran.
"Yeah, it's her first time!" Spider added, from behind Kiri.
"Relax, guys! She's fine! Aren't you, Mouse?"
Aneya closes her eyes and presses her head against his back in fear, "Sure!" she replies, trying not to ruin the mood.
Lo'ak laughs, suddenly diving his ikran downwards, which makes Aneya scream.
"Lo'ak!" Kiri yells, trying to keep up with him. She turns to Spider, "No wonder Neteyam was against this." she says.
Spider shrugs, "It was Tuk's idea anyway."
"It is not like we can blame Tuk for this. She couldn't even come with us," Kiri says, which Spider acknowledges with a nod.
Lo'ak speeds up, having too much fun with the scared girl. Luckily for her, since he dived before, they were now closer to the ground.
"Hold on!" Lo'ak yells, hoping Aneya heard him clearly.
"What?!"
Before Aneya could register it, Lo'ak's ikran does a full loop, which meant they being upside down for a moment.
In that very moment, Aneya fell from the ikran, landing on several different plants that crashed her fall.
"Mouse?!" Lo'ak didn't get a good look at where she fell, and his ikran was already going too fast.
He commanded the ikran to slow down and turn so that he could face Kiri once she caught up.
Once Kiri and Spider notice Lo'ak, they read his concerned expression, realizing what might have happened.
"I lost Aneya." Lo'ak says, making Kiri gasp.
"We need to get dad." She suggests, at which Lo'ak's eyes widen.
"He'll kill me!" He worries.
"Then let's get Neteyam." Spider quickly says. "He'll be too focused on finding Aneya to actually try and kill any of us." He states, earning a nod from Kiri.
Lo'ak grunts, thinking it over.
"Lo'ak, Neteyam is our safest bet." Spider interrupts.
"Fine."
——
Aneya wakes up, realizing she's in the middle of nowhere. She stands up, taking in her surroundings.
She takes in a hitched breath, noticing the lack of people around her.
"Spider?" She whispers, looking around. "Lo'ak?" she brings her hand to her mask, failing to cover her mouth as tears pricked at her eyes, "Kiri?"
The world starts spinning around her as she begins to hyperventilate. Stumbling back onto the ground, her chest heaves up and down as she pushes with her feet and hands to move backwards.
Bumping into a tree, she feels small next to Pandora's flora.
"Guys?!" She manages to shout, only to receive sounds of nature back.
"I shouldn't have come here." She whispers, letting the tears stream down her face as she brings her knees close to her chest.
—
A huffing and sweating Aneya was running through the forest after she had caught a glimpse of a Thanator. Staying in place was no longer an option.
She had been alone for what felt like an eternity, but was likely around an hour.
She was starting to lose hope of being rescued, maybe even of surviving.
Once she realized she made it to a spot where she believed was safe, she noticed the sky was beginning to darken.
"Eclipse." she whispered to herself in disbelief.
Out of the blue, hound-like creatures began to appear, surrounding her like she was dead meat.
"No.. no..." She began to hyperventilate once more as she backed up, trying to think about an escape.
Before one of them could jump on her, an arrow was shot straight to it's chest.
The sudden attack made Aneya fall back, watching as a Na'vi began taking down the creatures.
She recognized Neteyam from the back, noting how he swiftly threw around the hounds like it was nothing.
His aggressive demeanor made her anxious as she began to feel small once more.
After scaring away the remaining hound-like creature, Neteyam hissed aggressively at them before turning to Aneya.
He bent down to softly grab her arm, but she flinched away quickly. Her breathing was rapid and her eyes were sorrowful.
Neteyam couldn't help but stare at her in concern, "Mouse... it's just me." he tried reassuring her.
Her eyes darted all over his face, carefully examining every detail. With her hand on her chest and her alarming heart rate yelling at her to run, she backed away slightly, watching as the Na'vi's face falls.
Neteyam looks back for a moment, making sure no creature came back for more. He took a second to realize how impulsively violent he acted just now, which would explain Aneya's fright.
"Ane... hey, you are safe now." He speaks once more. stretching his arm slowly toward her.
She drops her gaze to the approaching hand, knowing that what he said was true.
She was found.
So she carefully extended her hand toward his, placing it softly in his. Staring at their hands as her fingers grazed his, she began to smile at the realization that this was not a dream.
Neteyam watched as her hand was fully placed in his, taking in every detail to remember the feeling. He began to turn his hand so their palms were placed against each other, the difference in size showing. He smiled, interlacing his four fingers between her five, feeling how small her hand is in comparison.
"Neteyam," Aneya breathed out, calling to his attention, "you're really here." she smiled, her eyes watering as she began to chuckle in relief.
With that, he placed his arms around her as she threw hers around his shoulders, engaging in an embrace they had never experienced before.
Since Aneya usually secluded herself, she wasn't very physically engaging with the Sully family. Her timid personality would get in the way of that.
It took a life or death situation for her to finally forget that.
Neteyam took her legs and propped them up around him so that he could carry her over to his ikran and they could finally leave.
Once on the ikran, Aneya finally felt at ease, knowing she was no longer alone, nor did she have to be.
"I'm sorry this happened to you." Neteyam says.
"I don't want to think about it. But I do have a question," she says. Neteyam nods, silently telling her to keep going. "How did you find me?"
With a small smile, he simply said, "I will always find you."
———
"Oh thank Eywa you are safe!" Kiri exclaims as Neteyam lands his ikran on a designated area where Jake and Neytiri would not find them.
Aneya is brought down from the ikran with the help of Lo'ak, who is visibly concerned. "I am so sorry, Aneya. I didn't mean for this to happen."
"It's alright, Lo'ak. I know you-" She's cut off with an OOMPH as Spider pulls her into a bone crushing hug.
He doesn't say anything as he silently sobs into her shoulder, as he had been worriedly waiting for what felt like an eternity.
"I'm okay, Spider." She says, reassuring her non-biological brother as she soothingly rubs his back.
"I'll never make you come out of the labs again if you don't want to. I'm so sorry for pressuring you into this." He says as he slowly lets go of the bear hug.
Before Aneya can say anything, Spider turns to Neteyam, saying his thanks for finding her.
"We should go back. Our parents are probably worried about us." Kiri says as she calls her ikran.
"Tuk has been covering for us the whole time." Lo'ak admits, which surprises Aneya.
"Really?"
"I didn't say she's doing a good job at it." Lo'ak adds on with a smile on his face to ease the tension.
——
"Thank you again for saving me. I probably would have died out there if it wasn't for you." Aneya says as Neteyam escorts her back to the labs.
"Not a problem. When Lo'ak told me what happened, I knew I could not waste time." He shrugs as they walk in the building, allowing Aneya to take off her mask and Neteyam to put on another. "Actually, I'm sorry if I scared you then. You seemed terrified."
"I think it was the rush of the entire thing. I was scared already but then I got startled at your sudden aggressiveness if that makes sense."
Neteyam sits down in a corner, which allows Aneya to talk to him more directly, rather than having to look up at him.
"I am glad you got there when you did though. I wouldn't have survived."
Neteyam sighs. "I am happy too. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't make it in time."
Aneya gives him a smile, but doesn't know what else to say. Neteyam takes a huff of his own oxygen, which allows there to be a non-awkward pause in the conversation.
Though, after that, silence took over.
Aneya was happy with his presence, but was starting to become uneasy when she couldn't come up with a good conversation topic.
Struggling, she decided to simply sit down next to him. Once she did, Neteyam placed his long arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
They sat there in a comfortable silence, neither of them knowing what to say, but being okay with it.
Neteyam's tail wrapped around Aneya's hip, resting on the other side. She felt safe and secure with him, knowing that she could count on Neteyam whenever she needed to.
Unbeknownst to the other, they both thought about the same thing.
They were each other's safe place, and they didn't want that to change.
A/N: Sorry I died for a bit, school has been hell lately (mentally, emotionally, socially, etc. like school usually is lmao) , but thankfully summer is coming soon and I'll have more breaks to write more.