A/N: I've got to stop thinking up stories at eight in the morning. They prevent me from getting back to sleep.

Reviews are most welcome.

Disclaimer: Avatar and all associated belong to James Cameron.

Personal Bubbles

Jake didn't like the whole neural bonding-thing (or 'making tsahaylu', as was the proper term). He found the process very disconcerting. An alien entity was getting into his head and quite possibly rummaging through his thoughts. Yeah, there was that whole 'working on the same brainwave' thing that happened between people who had been around each other for much too long and they started speaking in unison, but that wasn't the same thing. Humans just weren't mean to form neural bonds with funny-looking animals.

The only problem was, while his mindset was still human, in his Avatar body, he wasn't exactly human. The Na'vi had evolved to form neural bonds. But that didn't mean Jake had to like it.

Nonetheless, the prospect of trying to form a bond with one of those Sleipnir-lookalikes (direhorses in English, Pa'li in proper Na'vi) was a daunting one.

Later, when he was back in his (useless, annoying, can't sit up without some back support) human body, Grace had questioned him for a good forty-five minutes on what the bonding felt like. Jake described it as best he could. It was like someone had invaded his personal bubble of space.

He noticed that that happened a lot around here.

The biggest offender of the personal bubble invasion was without a doubt Neytiri.

Jake wasn't about to say that he didn't like her. She was attractive, even by human standards. Perhaps more 'exotic' than attractive, but he smiled every time he thought about her. Her personality left something to be desired. Mostly because she didn't like him and occasionally looked at him like he was something that the dog had left on the floor.

But that just didn't stop her from always touching him.

He could understand her kicking at his ankles to make him adjust his stance and changing the position of his elbows when he was working with the bow and arrow. But her putting her hands on his shoulders for no clear reason? Or brushing her fingers down his arms? And what about his mud-covered self after the Pa'li had bucked him off for the fourth or fifth (or eighth) time? He swore that Neytiri hadn't been so much as clearing the mud off as she had been feeling him up.

Norm laughed at this. Grace told him that he was just imagining things and to stop being stupid and get on with forging good relations.

Jake, however, was convinced that Neytiri was being just a bit too touchy-feely for his comfort.

His annoyance with her constant touching (particularly of his shoulders) reached a head during the daily bow practice.

"Neytiri!"

The Na'vi princess took a sudden step back, her hands coming off his shoulders. Her ears flattened to her head a little and her eyes narrowed. She knew that sharp tone in his voice. The tone of a warrior who was ready to attack. Neytiri tilted her head a little, regarding him with a kind of tension. If he attacked her, she was going to fight back.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. She didn't see or hear any predators nearby. They were still close to Hometree. In terms of established territory, they had not ventured out of the Omaticaya's.

"This--" Jake used the bow and the arrow to make a semi-frantic circular gesture around his body, only about a foot in diameter. "Is my personal space bubble! Do not pop my space bubble!"

"I see no bubbles to pop." Neytiri informed him, tilting her head a little further as if she expected to see a bubble spring into existence around her student. What was he babbling about now?

"It's invisible! And understood! You're not supposed to pop the bubble, but you keep popping the bubble!" Jake said, his face warm. He couldn't see himself but he bet that he was lit up like a Christmas tree. "You have totally been feeling me up too! It's a little creepy!"

"Jakesully, you are imagining this." Neytiri said calmly. She was already passing this off as a strange Sky Person habit.

"I don't care!" Jake repeated the circular gesture. "Personal bubble of space! Respect the bubble!"

Despite Jake's warning, Neytiri's hands were back on his shoulders within minutes of resuming practice. He shook his head in defeat. She had no reason to be doing that; except for one reason.

She totally dug him. That had to be it.

The second-biggest offender on the invasion of personal space was Grace's tabby cat Ripley, but that was more because he had the most available lap space. Jake guessed that there wasn't a lot he could do about that.

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