Chapter Text
The motel room TV is still blasting news about the accident. Everyone’s eyes are glued to the screen while Lucy Gray sits in the corner armchair with a notepad open, writing a new song as her excuse, when in reality she’s staring at the brown briefcase resting against the TV stand.
It has been two days and every news outlet has said that the building was empty when it collapsed. The work day was long over and the construction work had wrapped up for the day as well. It made no sense for someone to be inside, so naturally, not even the ones nearby who saw the ambulance would question it. “Maybe the man just got caught under the rubble while passing by,” is probably what they’re thinking.
Lucy Gray knows, however. She saw him come out, tried to save him, failed miserably, and now she doesn’t even know his name to return his briefcase.
While it could be possible that the company he’s working for is hiding the true status of how they let their employees work in an unsafe environment, it’d also garner more sympathy and attention towards their services in the wake of the accident.
So, maybe, the most likely option is that the man died and the higher-ups at the office are trying to hide their fuck-up.
Lucy Gray’s motel-provided ballpoint pen falls from her hand. She doesn’t register the noise it makes when hitting the carpeted floor because she’s already leaping across the room to snatch the briefcase from its place.
She lands with a less-than-elegant thump. That much she hears, but while avoiding the looks from the Covey, all sat on the two beds they could afford, she undoes the hatch holding the case shut.
“What are you doing?” Billy Taupe asks first.
“I need to return it,” Lucy Gray says.
“Yet you’re shuffling through the papers,” Tam Amber points out.
“You don’t even know the guy’s name,” Billy Taupe insists.
Lucy Gray clicks her tongue as she finds a hand-written report with a name on top. “Which is why I am currently shuffling through the papers to find his name. Aren’t you a clever little one, Billy Taupe?”
She doesn’t need to raise her eyes to feel the roll of his eyes as he falls onto his back on the mattress, sending Maude Ivory clutching the sheets to stay upright.
What a curious name the man has. Could be Covey, almost.
Lucy Gray slips the papers neatly back in the briefcase and clicks the hatch shut. She then stands up, smooths out her tee, tucked neatly into a pair of high-waisted jeans. She needs some fresh air that doesn’t just include getting chocolate bars from the reception vending machine.
“Where are you going?” Barb Azure asks, turning off the TV where the news reporter is currently explaining how the collapse came to be. “Are you seriously planning on going around every hospital in the city with the slight chance you might find him to return his briefcase?”
“There’s just one major public one in the area,” Lucy Gray points out, already by the entrance and slipping on her red sneakers. “You know, the one you wanted me to go to to get that strange cough from all the smoke checked out.”
“And what if he’s in a fancy private one?” asks Tam Amber, leaning back on his hands.
Lucy Gray tilts her head and smiles. “That’d make him important, yet there was not even a mention of him in any of the news broadcasts. That guy’s livestock to big corporations, kind of like us soon.”
“Be safe, please!” Maude Ivory pleads, her wispy brows furrowed. “I heard big cities can be dangerous at night, especially if you come back late.”
Lucy Gray shrugs on an oversized denim jacket, one where the cuffs have nearly been fiddled off by all the Covey members taking turns wearing it. “I will, don’t you worry about me, Maude Ivory. All you need to be worried about is that Clerk Carmine doesn’t eat all of your pizza once you order dinner.”
Her eyes light up at once. “Pizza? For dinner?”
Clerk Carmine smirks at the younger girl. “You should be very afraid.”
“Well, I’m off,” says Lucy Gray, slipping one of the motel keycards in the back pocket of her jeans and picking up the briefcase. As she’s gripping the door handle, she can hear the scoff of Billy Taupe, and she’s already opening it when the very same man speaks up.
“Wait.”
Billy Taupe’s hand settles on her shoulder. She has no doubt his scoff came from Clerk Carmine nudging him to do something, but she supposes it is appreciated that he at least reacted this time.
He kisses her temple, atop the few loose curls that have fallen from her ponytail. “Be safe. Don’t get into any trouble. I love you, pumpkin,” he says. Lucy Gray looks up, smiles, and pecks his lips despite the god-awful mustache he has yet to shave off.
“Love you too. Remember to leave me some leftovers.”
And then she’s off into the five PM sunshine, unaware of whether her mission will succeed or not, but damn it, if she’ll try. With the briefcase swinging in her hand, she makes her way to the reception to find the list of bus schedules on the wall.
-
Coriolanus touches his temple with two fingers from his right hand and hisses. The aches have been nonstop ever since he woke up from what must’ve been a sweet, sleepless slumber. Now it’s nothing but pain.
Sejanus throws his book aside and hops onto his feet from the armchair like a slacking soldier caught in the military. His eyes are wide when he looks down at Coriolanus and asks, “Do you need more medicine? I can go ask.”
“No, I—” God, his throat hurts too. Must be the asbestos, or whatever else poison they had in those walls. “Maybe just some water?”
“Yeah, of course,” nods Sejanus and makes his way to the water cooler in the corner of the hospital room.
Coriolanus looks down at his arm, or mainly his left fingers, peeking out from underneath the white cast. Broken arm, fractured ribs, a concussion… The hospital bills are going to be less than ideal. Not to mention the fact that he’ll be out of work until Strabo Plinth finds a vacant office building that won’t collapse again. At least they won’t let him go unless they wish for an incoming lawsuit. Not that they know he couldn’t afford a lawyer, either.
He’s so screwed, isn’t he?
Sejanus returns and hands the plastic cup to Coriolanus’s healthy hand. Their fingers brush, and it arouses an entirely new question.
Why is Sejanus here? Really, he slept the previous night in that damn barebones armchair and didn’t complain one bit. Coriolanus doesn’t remember being in the hospital without Sejanus by his side. The staff might get suspicious if he hangs around for much longer.
Sejanus lingers, shifting weight from one foot to the other, fiddling with his fingers with unease in his creased brows. “Coryo,” he says, clearing his throat. “I’ve already asked my pa to cover all the costs of your recovery.”
Coriolanus’s eyes fly as wide as they can without the throbbing headache flashing red in his eyes. “What? You didn’t—”
“Yeah, yes, I know you don’t need my— his help, but… It wasn’t your fault, so I don’t think you should be the one to pay for… all of this.”
This is far beyond what a… whatever Sejanus is to Coriolanus, should be doing. Isn’t his father going to get suspicious with him always looking out for the blond man? Or does his father just chalk it up to his son’s strong moral compass?
So, in the end, what will come out on top: Coriolanus’s desperate need not to be in debt, or his pride?
“...Sejanus, your dad doesn’t even know we’re friends,” is what he manages to mumble.
“He does!” Sejanus insists before quickly starting to stutter. “I mean— He only knows that we’re friends. Nothing more, nothing less. And I’d be a fool not to help my… friend.”
Coriolanus exhales slowly. He can’t pass up this opportunity. Most of his savings went to help Tigris with her procedure. She’s still recovering, hence why he hasn’t contacted her about his own state.
Maybe, if he showed some puppy dog eyes, he could get more. Just to keep himself — and her — afloat for a little while longer.
He grabs Sejanus’s hand and looks up at him with his battered and bruised face. “Thank you, Sejanus. Really. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Sejanus shoulders relax and he lets out a small smile. “Without me, you wouldn’t be in the hospital right now, probably.”
It’s all bullshit. They didn’t know each other before Coriolanus got the job, attending different universities and all. Sejanus is just trying to lighten the mood, to make Coriolanus forget about the sting in his back as he leans against the raised head of the bed.
Coriolanus squeezes his hand tighter. “Maybe it’s worth the concussion.”
“What is?”
“Spending time with you.”
Sejanus’s smile deepens and he steps closer to the hospital bed. Right as he’s leaning down, however, the door to the hospital room opens and a nurse steps in. And as soon as he was there, Sejanus has thrown himself back in the armchair and Coriolanus’s hand is left hanging in the air. God, Sejanus is really bad at this.
Coriolanus looks deadpan at the nurse in her light blue dress, and only after does he look at the woman next to her. She’s quite short, or maybe the nurse is just tall, Coriolanus can’t tell. Clad in a jean jacket and jeans that are just a slightly different shade, she looks around the room nervously. In her hands is a brown briefcase, and suddenly, both the young woman as well as the briefcase seem awfully familiar.
Where has he seen them before…?
“Your girlfriend is here to see you, Mr. Snow.”
Well, that just can’t be.
Coriolanus looks at Sejanus, who looks back at him, and by the time they’re looking at the pair of women again, the shorter one is rushing the nurse out of the room.
“Thank you, kind ma’am, but I’d like some privacy with my boyfriend now,” she says, urging the nurse to leave, and then she closes the door behind her. And then there were three.
She faces the door with the window for an awfully long time, as if hesitating, before slowly turning around on her heels, worn red sneakers covering them, and she gives the two men a bright grin.
“Hey there. May I come closer?” she asks. Her hair is in a high ponytail, brown like the bark in the trees in the park not far from their fallen office building. A few loose, curly strands frame her face, and her brown eyes look at him curiously.
“...Why do you have my briefcase?” asks Coriolanus slowly. It’s apparently normal for the details of accidents to be hazy, like some sort of brain mechanism protecting his mind. He doesn’t know if he likes the protection now.
“You called him your boyfriend?” asks Sejanus in turn, and Coriolanus shoots him a look. Not the time.
“Well, I thought it was the only way they’d let me see you, Coriolanus Snow,” says the woman. Having received no response, she comes closer to set the briefcase on the small table beside Sejanus’s armchair. Once she straightens up and looks back at Coriolanus, her smile falters. Like a facade, when Coriolanus should be the one who’s scared by the woman barging into his hospital room and sending the nurse away, even if she couldn’t do much with her small frame and cute face.
“I came to return your briefcase. It seemed really important to you the other day.”
Their eyes stay connected, and Coriolanus so desperately tries to connect the dots that she has oh so clearly already finished drawing. Those eyes are so dark, kind of like Sejanus’s, with the slightest hint of honey glowing in them when the setting sun hits them from outside the window. Where has he seen those eyes before?
He doesn’t even remember where he last saw that briefcase. It had barely crossed his mind during the past day, even if it contains the report he desperately needed to finish before the accident.
Coriolanus’s eyes fly wide.
“You were the one who tried to save me?”
“What?” asks Sejanus.
She stays still for a second before exhaling, like she had been holding her breath. She places a hand over her chest and chuckles, lips bending into a smile as easily as water’s surface tension breaks.
“And here I was thinking you had totally lost your memory.”
“...Some of it is hazy, yes, but how did you—”
“Oh, well, since you didn’t tell me your name before passing out and I wanted to return the briefcase, I had to snoop a bit. Only enough to find your name, Coriolanus.”
It sounds strange coming from her lips. His name. It’s always Mr. Snow or Coryo these days. He’s so caught off-guard by it that he nearly forgets company secrets.
Nearly.
“Did you read anything you found in there?”
She quickly shakes her head. “I would’ve been there all night if I did. Seriously, it was a pretty heavy thing too. Probably expensive, felt like real leather.”
Coriolanus nods, relieved. Sejanus shifts uncomfortably in his chair, but Coriolanus is not quite done with this mystery woman yet.
“What’s your name?”
She blinks. “Shit, must’ve forgotten to tell you during my explaining.” She does a small curtsy which momentarily makes Coriolanus think they’ve gone back a few decades, if only it weren’t for her modern clothes. “I’m Lucy Gray Baird. I just moved here, well, officially, the day you got caught under the rubble.” She looks back up and chuckles. “Some of my people believe in signs. My younger cousin said seeing all that meant that our lives here are going to tank completely.”
Lucy Gray steps closer to the bed, covering Sejanus even with her smaller form. She looks down at Coriolanus with a tilted head and says, “But now that I can see with my own two eyes that you’re going to be just fine, I think this just means a fresh start.”
Then she smiles, and something inside him makes Coriolanus smile back.
“Well… I should get going so my family doesn’t get worried. They already thought I was tripping for even trying to find you.” Lucy Gray reaches for him as if to pat his shoulder, then hesitates and pulls her hand back. Coriolanus isn’t that fragile.
As she starts walking towards the door, something inexplicable inside Coriolanus awakens and bubbles up all the way through his windpipe and his mouth.
“Can I treat you to lunch sometime?”
Both Lucy Gray and Sejanus freeze at that, but Coriolanus couldn’t stop himself. She saved him. Well, tried to. If he remembers correctly, she mentioned something about her cousin calling the emergency number then. She could’ve stayed back where she would’ve been safe, yet she tried to save him from under all that rubble.
The least he can do is buy her a good meal, maybe recommend some delicious but cheap places around town, given the state of her sneakers and all.
Lucy Gray turns back around and, surprisingly, looks at Sejanus before looking back at Coriolanus. “It’s fine. I really just wanted to know that you’re fine. There was nothing about you on the news.”
Coriolanus blinks. “There’s nothing?”
Sejanus looks down. “...Pa said telling people you got injured would be bad for the business.”
Well, from a business standpoint, that is entirely true. From a Coriolanus Snow standpoint, however, that is an outrage. What if he had died? He was lucky not to get a permanent brain injury when caught under the concrete. Would they have just brushed him aside? Or maybe just pay for his small funeral quietly while the rest of the world moves on without ever knowing what happened to him?
Coriolanus stares at his feet, raised under the hospital blanket. He could’ve died and no one at the company would have cared about anything but their own reputation.
“Lucy Gray,” he says before looking back up at her. “I’d like to treat you to lunch or dinner sometime soon, once I’m discharged. Just as a token of my gratitude for your efforts.”
“Please, I could hardly do anything.”
“If nothing else, you saved my briefcase and saved me from getting fired.”
Lucy Gray stands there for a minute before shrugging. “Well, I can’t turn down free food. Do you have paper and a pen?”
“Yeah. Sejanus, can you hand me my briefcase?” Coriolanus asks, and albeit hesitantly, Sejanus does as told, carefully placing it in the blond man’s lap. Coriolanus works the hatch open with his healthy hand and digs out a small notepad and a fine pen before offering them to Lucy Gray.
She walks over, takes the items and leans over the small table next to Sejanus to write something down. “Here’s my name and the motel I’m staying at for now, along with the number of the reception. You can call and ask to be directed to room 12, and I’ll be sure to pick up, unless I’m busy. Just ask for Lucy Gray if someone else responds. There are six of us there.”
Coriolanus is handed the notepad and pen back, and he makes sure to safely tuck them back in his briefcase. Sejanus then takes it and places it back on the desk, staying awfully quiet.
“Well, thank you for letting me visit, not that you had a choice, and have a speedy recovery, yeah?” Lucy Gray says with a kind smile. “If I don’t hear from that food offer soon, I’ll track you down via a phonebook, Coriolanus Snow.”
He finds himself sitting up straighter to say, “I like to keep my promises, Lucy Gray.”
She shoots him one more smile before leaving out the room door and disappearing down the hallway on the other side of the window.
Then, with the mystery of this Lucy Gray Baird lingering in the air, Coriolanus leans back and sighs. He really could’ve been screwed without that report in his briefcase, injured or not.
“Well, I’ll probably head home too, Coryo,” Sejanus says suddenly, standing up and stretching. “I don’t want this back pain to become persistent from sleeping on chairs.”
Coriolanus furrows his brows a bit before nodding. “I get that. Have a safe ride home. Your father picking you up?”
“Or someone adjacent. You know how it is.” Sejanus tries to force a smile, but Coriolanus can tell something is wrong. He just can’t quite tell what that something is. He reaches out for the man’s hand, and Sejanus takes it. Instead of coming close, though, he just kisses Coriolanus’s bruised knuckles. “I really hope you feel better soon. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Coriolanus nods and watches as Sejanus disappears into the hallway as well.