Work Text:
5 days in, and Pansey could be more well off, but he was doing alright.
He had a limited stash of food and a single sword as a weapon, though he also had a wound - a cut that ran pretty deep - in his side. He was weak, from both the pain and the blood loss, and his body decided it was a great idea to give out on him in the middle of a wide-open meadow. Pansey did the only thing he knew how to do: camouflage.
He picked as many flowers as he needed, clearing a small space for him to lie. He covered his sword and bag of supplies with the overgrown flowers without picking them before he laid in his open patch.
Once sitting, he stretched out his legs and began to cover them with the flowers, making sure to hide any color from his clothes that might peek through. After his legs blended in with the rest of the ground, he laid all the way back and set to work covering his chest, neck, head, and then arms.
It took him a bit of time before he actually felt confident that no one would see him, should they stumble upon the large area of land that was bare, save for the flowers.
He decided to lay there for the night, to sleep, to heal a little bit, and then he would need to leave at some point the next day, whether it be midday or closer to nightfall.
Being alone and covered in flowers left Pansey a lot of time to think, and his mind often drifted to his teammate, or more accurately, the other person from his district.
“Teammate” was a bit of a stretch, seeing as the guy nearly got Pansey killed on the second day.
This year was a Quarter Quell, and the thing that was done differently this time around, was that each district sent in two people of the same gender. This didn’t make the fights much more interesting, but he supposed the Capital thought there would be crosse-district lovers, which would cause some problems.
Odd districts sent in females, even districts sent in males. Pansey, being from district 12, was sent in with another boy.
His name was Mahger. Pansey did not know him well personally, but Magher had always been someone Pansey was curious about. He was always beautiful, with golden hair and eyes the color of honey. Pansey would have liked to know him, but it never seemed to be in his cards.
It was a surprise when both their names were called, and then they were standing on the stage together, and then they were shaking hands and boarding a train and having fancy dinners and training together. Pansey couldn’t help but be lured in by this boy, such a mystery to him.
Pansey liked to think that they grew somewhat important to each other during their week in the Capital. They stayed up way later than they should have each night, talking, getting to know each other, falling for each other.
On the night before they entered the arena, Pansey kissed Mahger, and Mahger kissed back. They made out for maybe ten minutes before they decided it was time to sleep, they needed more sleep tonight, and neither of them talked about it again. Pansey didn’t know their status, didn’t know how Mahger felt about him, but he did not expect Mahger to lead a group of tributes to try to kill him.
He had been in a tree when he heard Mahger’s voice for the first time since they’d kissed, amongst other voices. He couldn’t hear their conversation for a while, but when they got closer, Pansey realized they were hunting him, and Mahger was leading the group.
He was straining to see them, adjusted himself the smallest bit, broke a branch and suddenly, all eyes were on him and a tall kid who looked older than Pansey was trying to climb up the tree, but he didn’t seem agile enough.
He managed to escape, and thinking back now, that was the last time he saw Mahger.
It was right when that thought crossed his mind that he heard that voice he became so fond of, soft and strong all in one, and he knew Mahger was in the meadow, nearing Pansey.
Before he knew it, an unsuspecting foot was on Pansey’s chest, and Pansey was yelling to get off him, and Mahger was backing away, shocked by the boy covered in flowers.
“Geez, Pansey! I couldn’t see you, what did you expect to happen?”
“You bitch! I figured the meadow was big enough that anyone walking through would choose anywhere but where I was to step,” Pansey exclaimed, clutching at his probably bruised chest.
Mahger laughed a little, and it made Pansey’s heart swell just a bit.
Mahger hadn’t laughed during their time together in the Capital. He was too focused on preparing for the Games, on dealing with the stress, on figuring out how he felt about Pansey (Pansey, of course, didn’t know that this is what distracted him so much in the last few days in the Capital).
Hearing him laugh was like hearing church bells, it was special. Mahger was the kind of guy to laugh a lot back in the district, but he hadn’t laughed since Pansey knew him. It was something Pansey wouldn’t mind hearing more often.
“So, Pansey,” Mahger started, “when did you get that cut on your side?”
Pansey glanced down at the slice across his ribcage, noticed it was bleeding again, assumed it was from him jumping up so fast when Mahger stepped on him.
“I got it yesterday, but it only just started bleeding again.”
“Well, I don’t have any bandages,” Mahger said, walking closer to Pansey. “But I think i can clean up the blood a little,” he finished with a smirk.
Mahger lifted a hand to Pansey’s side, slid his hand up Pansey’s shirt and pushed it up, exposing the wound, and he saw Pansey wince when the skin-tight fabric grazed over the cut.
“W-what are you gonna do,” Pansey asked, eyes curiously watching Mahger, especially when he just smiled, brought his face really close to Pansey’s wound, and began to lick the blood from Pansey’s abdomen.
(The people of the Capital shrieked, rioted, fought for them, “what a strange turn of events,” said Caesar.)
Pansey smiled lightly and said, “Mahger, I like you.”
Mahger laughed again at that. “Yea, I kinda figured that out when you kissed me. I like you too.”
“Do you want to work together for the rest of the games, then? Even though you literally just crushed my heart,” Pansey mumbled.
One more small laugh escaped Mahger before he replied, “Sure, Pansey, I’d love to.”