#modern au - if something breaks the kids know to take it to Neytiri because Jake is just that bad

[shu-box-puns]

I just know Jake is no handy man. If something breaks, you can bet your first born that he'll try and mend it, but will inevitably end up making the problem 125% worse and calling in either Norm or Neytiri to help him. (Or he'll hide whatever is broken in really obvious, badly concealed places).

[thinkofmehoney]

"Smell that, it's wet grass and smoke in my hair."

Chapter one

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Summary: the Sully family moves to another city after Neytiri gets a new job there as an Archery teacher. In consequence, the kids go to a new high-school where they meet new people and also face people from their past, and basically just live their lives as teenagers.

Pairings: Neteyam x Ao'nung, Lo'ak x Tsireya, Kiri x Rotxo

Notes: I'm indecisive so I didn't know if I wanted this to be a Human Au or just a Na'vi fic, so you can imagine them as humans or Na'vi! it's up to you! I tried not to describe their appearance too much to make this easier, but I'll use human and Na'vi images for the chapters.

Also, I chose the title because it's a lyric from Townie by Mitski, and it makes me think so much about being a teenager so I think it's appropriate.

Includes: kind of Slice of Life?, High-school au, Neteyam, Ao'nung and Rotxo are 18, Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Kiri are 17, Modern au, enemies to lovers, ex's to friends to lovers, daddy issues, bullying, crushes, hurt/comfort. I'll be updating the tags once I write more!

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It was early in the morning when Jake was driving his kids to their new school. They just moved to their new house after Neytiri got a new job as an archery teacher, they decided it was better to move than to have Neytiri traveling everyday, they also saw it as an opportunity to buy a bigger house where they would live more comfortably as the big family they were.

Neteyam glanced at Lo'ak's phone and saw that he was looking at old pictures of Tsireya and him, Neteyam couldn't help but feel worried about his little brother's situation, even though he thought Tsireya had good reasons to break up, but it also wasn't something they couldn't work up.

"Do you still miss her?" Neteyam looked at his brother's face who couldn't stop looking longingly at his ex girlfriend's picture.

"Of course bro, I miss her more than anything"

"and have you talked to her lately?" Lo'ak sighed.

"Nah, I don't think she wants to talk to me."

"I mean, if you ask me, I think she would wanna hear about you, so she'll know that you care about her, like, that's the whole thing about your break up." Lo'ak sighed, putting his phone down.

"I don't know bro, I still feel kinda embarrassed, I was so clueless and thought everything was just fine between us."

"Okay but… Now that we live in the same city as Reya, what would you do if you run into her?" Lo'ak laughed at that scenario, because it was an impossible thing, he thought.

"Bro this is a big city, what are the odds of me running into her." Neteyam stared silently at him, confused.

"Is that actually a joke?"

"what do you mean?" Now Lo'ak was even more confused than his brother.

"Lo'ak, are you being for real?"

"About what?! please don't play with me right now I swear."

"Bro we are attending to the same school as her, and you are both on the same grade" Neteyam felt like he was explaining to a toddler that two plus two is four. "Are you telling me you didn't know that?" Judging by Lo'ak's wide eyes, no, he didn't knew that.

Lo'ak unbuckled his seatbelt, being his dramatic self. "Dad stop the car." Jake looked at him through the rear view mirror.

"Lo'ak don't start, put your seatbelt back on or i'm gonna crash into a tree."

Lo'ak's face was pale as he looked at Neteyam once again "Why wouldn't you tell me about this shit?!"

"Cause' I thought you knew what was your girlfriend's school smartass! that's why she broke up with you, you don't even know something so basi-" Before he could finish, Lo'ak grabbed his hair in a fist.

"Take that back!" Now, Neteyam was trying to push his brother back.

"Get off of me!" At this point, they were both pulling their hair and pushing each other's faces.

"Hey, hey!" Jake suddenly stopped the car, making both of them stop immediately and look at their father with frightened faces "You two are way too grown to be fighting like this, specially you, Neteyam" the mentioned boy's ears laid flat against his head. "Now, both of you, get out of the car and walk to school, let's see if you keep misbehaving like this when you arrive."

The brothers looked at their father with wide eyes, but soon they just looked down and said "Yes, sir" as they opened the door and got out. They weren't far from the school, they could see it from where they were standing, but it was embarrassing that they got kicked out of the car because of their little fight

the walk to school was silent and the tension was palpable, Lo'ak felt guilty and he could also feel Neteyam's anger irradiate from him like fire, but once they got to the entrance, the older brother patted the younger's head.

"If you need anything just text me, okay?" He may be angry because of the scolding they got because of their little argument, but he was still worried about Lo'ak and his situation.

Lo'ak walked fast into school because he didn't wanna run into that particular someone, meanwhile, Neteyam wasn't in any hurry so he just walked like a normal person.

Until he saw Kiri surrounded by a group of guys laughing at her.

After an eventful car ride to school with her beloved family, Kiri arrives to school before her brothers, of course.

"Have a nice day baby" Jake watches her get out of the car with her green backpack "If someone bothers you don't hesitate to ask your brothers for help, okay?" She nodded.

"Alright dad, see ya!"

As she's walking towards the entrance, she spots some beautiful flowerpots with big leaves covering them. She didn't knew yet, but that was part of he gardening club. At the entrance, if you walk a few steps to the side of the building, you will find a narrow but long greenhouse with some vegetables growing inside that the students sowed themselves. outside theres two white benches in between flowers, cactuses and other beautiful plants that are well cared for by the students.

She strongly believes in talking to plants and giving them positive energy to grow stronger and beautiful, she also finds it really therapeutic talking to them, and the best part is that they'll never judge her

Unlike some other skxawnks.

"Look!" She hears a masculine voice getting closer, along with some giggles. "Is she talking to a plant? you gotta be kidding me" It was some Metkayina boys that were getting closer.

"she's a freak, man" Kiri looked at them with furrowed brows and they could tell that she wasn't Metkayina. "And she's not from here... She must be from the forest."

Kiri rolls her eyes and sighs annoyed as she tries to leave the garden, when the tallest boy gets in her way. He had braided hair and a bun along with some loose curls. His blue eyes were so blue they were almost clear, and Kiri always thought blue eyes looked terrifying.

"Hey, chill." He laughs mockingly "I doubt we interrupted an important conversation here, Forest girl"

"Please just, leave me alone" Kiri tries to get out of this situation but the guys just kept walking around her like vultures, making her dizzy.

When Neteyam arrives, is almost like a sixth sense activates on his brain. He gets closer to the laughter, where the garden is, he doesn't understand what's going on until he hears his sister's voice. He walks at a fast pace and throws his backpack to the ground once he arrives to this circle formed around his younger sister.

He sees the taller boy standing in front of his sister, preventing her from leaving while the other boys around them just laugh. By grabbing the taller boy's shoulder, he turns him around, finding a stunned look in his face.

Neteyam didn't even need to raise his voice to be intimidating, his eyes were just enough to feel your blood getting colder.

"Leave her alone," His voice sounded almost like a growl, Ao'nung felt goosebumps. "Now."

Koro, Ao'nung's friend, was quick to talk back, "Who the fuck do you think you-" But Ao'nung stopped him right away.

Looking at him up and down with a smirk, he raised both of his hands in surrender, letting the darker skinned boy know he was done annoying Kiri.

The girl walked towards her brother just wanting to leave the scene, but Neteyam and Ao'nung held eye contact for a few more seconds until the siblings turned around and left.

Ao'nung's friends looked at him confused, while he just kept looking at Neteyam's back, feeling just as confused as them.

"Who's that?"

Once they were far enough, Neteyam quickly stopped to check on his little sister, he scanned her up and down with his eyes and held her head in both of his hands to talk to her.

"Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" Kiri avoided eye contact.

"I'm fine, It's just... I don't wanna talk about it right now." The bell rang indicating their classes were starting, the hallway appeared to be busier at every second.

"If anybody bothers you again just call me and I'll rip their throats off with my teeth, alright?" Kiri smiled, Neteyam shuffled her hair and then they parted ways.

The first period was over, the Sully brothers didn't knew anyone yet other than Tsireya, so they were spending their free time at the school gym, not doing anything in particular, just chatting.

"Do you think that if I talked to her we could start dating again?" Neteyam sighed, actually getting tired of the Tsireya situation.

"I mean, you could at least try instead of asking me that same question over and over." Neteyam rolled his eyes.

"Yeah but what if-" before Lo'ak could finish that sentence, a guy came up to them with a basketball in his hands.

"Hey, we need two more players, are you guys up to?" Neteyam smiled and took the basketball in his hands as he walked away with the boy.

"C'mon Lo!" Neteyam shouted.

"Alright, alright!" Lo'ak followed his brother even though right now he just wanted to keep talking about his situation.

Lucky for them, they both played basketball since they were kids when their dad taught them. Neteyam even won some trophies when he was younger, which made his father really proud. On the other hand, Lo'ak wanted to be as good as his brother at basketball and make his father proud too, but he just couldn't, was it because Neteyam was taller? maybe he was faster? or maybe he just jumped higher? he didn't knew for certain, and that sometimes made him feel impotent.

They were getting into their positions when Neteyam noticed something, or more specifically, someone, on the other team. It was the guy that was making fun of Kiri earlier.

When they made eye contact neither of them looked away, Neteyam looked at him with a frown and Ao'nung at first had a surprised look on his face which soon switched into a smug grin.

When the game started, Ao'nung was baffled at how fast Neteyam was, they weren't even playing an actual game, this was just for fun, but the boy seemed so immersed in the game, like a professional player. Everyone noticed how good Neteyam was and how in sync him and Lo'ak were, probably because they played the sport together for years.

The bell rang just in time when their game ended, it wasn't a surprise that Neteyam's team won, everyone congratulated him, he was the new kid and he already was a sensation amongst their classmates, which made Lo'ak feel a bit left out.

"Yo Neteyam, are you joining the basketball team?" a boy from Neteyam's team asked while walking next to him

Neteyam found himself surrounded by people talking to him about how amazing he was at basketball and that he should definitely join the school's team.

"That's amazing son! Do you know when are the tryouts?"

The day was finally over, they were having dinner when Jake asked Neteyam about his day. He knew if he told his dad about the whole basketball thing he would be so proud, and he was, his eyes looked brighter when he heard the news.

"I think they start next week, they also play basket in between classes so maybe I'll practice with them but i'm not sure." He was moving his food with a fork while he spoke, Jake looked at him with a confused frown.

"What do you mean you're not sure? you have to do it! So they'll know you're motivated." He raised his voice unconsciously.

"Jake" Neytiri said as a warning, she knew her husband gets a little carried away when it's about his son playing sports, and Neteyam was such a people pleaser he would do whatever it would take to never disappoint his parents. So if Jake told Neteyam that he had to train 24/7 until he passed out, his son will most certainly do it.

"i'll go to the tryouts too dad." Lo'ak said looking at his father, who looked at him a little less excited.

"That's good, son, but you have to keep your grades up if you wanna be on a team, alright?" Lo'ak sighed and looked down at his plate, expecting a happier reaction from his dad.

"Yes, sir."

"Speaking of joining things" Kiri spoke, trying to ease the tension in the table. "I joined the gardening club, the "tryout" was being good at science so I just signed in." she joked.

"That's great darling" Neytiri smiled "You'll meet a lot of smart people like you then." Kiri laughed softly.

"I hope so, at least I won't be joining a sports team, everyone there is crazy." Lo'ak and Neteyam pretended to be offended.

"At least I won't be surrounded by nerds" Lo'ak talked back playfully, but Kiri looked at Neteyam.

"You'll be surrounded by hot athletic boys that's why you'll join the team" her older brother looked at her with wide eyes and his mouth full of food as he spoke.

"Why are you attacking me! I didn't even said anything!" bits of food fell out of his mouth, Neytiri put a napkin on his mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Teyam that's disgusting! behave on the table!"

Next chapter ->

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