Work Text:
Things always were the heaviest near Christmas time, with the whole floor having to go to Christmas parties, on the eve and the day, doing cheery photoshoots with ridiculous props, streaming early in the morning. It was Travis’s first time going through the holiday gauntlet, and it was clearly taking a toll on him. Taking a toll on everyone, honestly. Travis was about to go to bed and cry himself to sleep before he ran into Cooper laying on the stairs, staring into nothing.
“Uh… Cooper? You okay?”
Cooper seems to snap out of it suddenly, startling then looking at Travis tiredly.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just a long week, you know?” Cooper tries to smile, Travis doesn’t need to worry about him so much. “Never seems to get shorter.” He mutters.
Travis frowns.
“Okay, just tell me if you need anything. I can make breakfast tomorrow if you want-”
“No, we have that Christmas day function, remember? Gotta stream breakfast and eat whatever the Capitol servants give us.”
“Oh yeah…”
Travis is just. So tired.
“Hey Travis?” Cooper finally looks directly at him.
“Yeah?”
“It gets better. Well, it doesn’t, but you’ll get used to it.”
Both of them look at the floor as the silence grows awkward. Cooper sighs as he stands up, stretching his now sore legs.
“Well, i’m gonna go to bed. Big day tomorrow.”
“Night Cooper.”
“Night.”
------------------------------------
Travis is alone again. He almost feels like collapsing on the stairs, like Cooper, but he musters the strength to walk to his sterile bedroom. He sighs. It’s Christmas day tomorrow, and there’s no decorations, no handcrafted ornaments made from fabric trimmings snuck from the factory. Just the same too white, too clean halls. He just wishes there was a tree.
Well, tomorrow is a new day. He’s giving “coupons” to the floor, free cooking or dish cleaning. He hopes they understand it’s all he can do at the moment. Deep down, he knows they will. His floormates feel more like his family every day.
Travis falls into a dreamless sleep and wakes up to fresh, fluffy white snowflakes falling onto the windowsill.