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When I doubt the Snows have a pot to piss in.
Coriolanus pretended like Dean Highbottom’s words didn’t affect him but those stupid tears would not leave the corner of his eyes for hours.
He contemplates it now as he rolls around, making a mess of his bedsheets, disrupting the person sleeping next to him. Coriolanus runs a hand through his short blond hair, the curls growing out a little bit more each day, and sighs deeply. He feels a hand stroke his back and his racing heart calms down just a little bit.
Sejanus Plinth puts his chin on Coriolanus’s shoulder and even in the dark, Sejanus’s brown eyes are warm and friendly. He asks, “Are you okay, Coryo?” He wraps his arms around Coiolanus’s waist and waits for a reply. Coriolanus lets out a pathetic whimper and croaks out, “If it hadn’t been for the Plinths, the Snows would be no more. You saved me, Sejanus.” The tears now spill from his eyes and he tries to choke them down but Sejanus is faster. His brown eyes are now swarming with concern and sadness but the warmth is still there. It’s always there.
He shifts Coriolanus in his arms so they’re facing each other and presses a careful kiss on his nose. He murmurs, “And I would help you again if you came back home with me every night. I would do it again.”
Coryo shakes his head and replies, “You don’t have to.”
Sejanus holds his face in his hands like Coriolanus is his entire world and says vehemently, “I would gladly do it. Coryo, you’re everything .”
He chokes out another sob and it makes him feel weak & useless. His heart almost stops when he hears Sejanus speak again, “Baby…it will be okay. You’ll be okay.”
Coriolanus stares at him wide-eyed for a good long while and dumbly responds back, “Did you just call me baby?”
Sejanus rolls his eyes, pressing a kiss to Coriolanus’s forehead, teasing, “Don’t let it get to your head, Coriolanus Snow.”
His blood runs hot at that and he wants to hear Sejanus call him baby again and again.
Sejanus’s brown eyes are making his knees weak and he’s practically growling when he says, “Say it again.”
They’re chest to chest now and Coriolanus has Sejanus lightly pinned on the mattress. He knows he looks like a mad man. He doesn’t care much. His voice is still biting but a little bit choked off now, “Say it again. Please.”
Sejanus smiles at him and Coriolanus’s entire body feels like jelly. He brushes his nose against Sejanus’s and breathes against his mouth, the smell of Ma Plinth’s brownies still on Sejanus’s skin. He smells like home. Their mouths are touching when Sejanus finally whispers, “Baby…” His eyes well up with those stupid tears as Sejanus presses a kiss on the corner of his mouth. He murmurs again, “Baby.” He peppers Coriolanus’s cheeks with kisses that send a bubbly feeling up to his head. He feels buzzed, in the best way. Sejanus runs his hand down Coriolanus’s back and draws I love you with his fingers and he feels like he’s burning again.
He pins Sejanus against the mattress again and says seriously, “I don’t want to ever leave here.” And you.
Sejanus runs a hand through Coriolanus’s growing curls and gives him a contemplative smile. He replies back, “Then don’t. Ma loves having you here.”
Coriolanus’s hands dip underneath Sejanus’s shirt to feel his skin and the warmth there feels like an oven. A glorious oven. He never wants to leave. Ever. He presses his head against Sejanus’s chest and feels a strong, solid heartbeat. A hand runs through his curls again and a kiss is pressed on his head. He smiles softly. He teases, “And what does the famous Sejanus Plinth think about having me here all the time?”
Sejanus’s fingers work through a knot and it sends a zip straight through Coriolanus’s spine. His voice is so warm when he says back, “He wants you here all the time. Even when you’re here.” Leave it to Sejanus to be incredibly sentimental. He lifts his head up and sees that soulful brown-eyed gaze meeting his blue-eyed one and he’s about to say something when Sejanus throws his whole world for a loop, saying, “I love you.”
I love you.
I love you.
Tigris said those words quite a lot. He loved it but this was Sejanus Plinth. Someone he was supposed to hate. Be jealous of for the rest of his miserable life. It was easier when he was a kid. Now, he looked at him and saw the most earnest, loving, beautiful expression ever adored on someone’s face. The breath was knocked out of him. He croaked back, his voice betraying him once again, “I know.”
Sejanus choked out a laugh and pressed his forehead against Coriolanus’s, mumbling, “Of course you would say that.”
He replied, broken syllables coming out, “I just-I-only Tigris has ever said she loves me. And she’s family. She probably feels obligated to.”
Sejanus cradles his face again and Coriolanus is only so strong. The tears are slow but stream down his face and he knows he looks pathetic. He feels pathetic. Sejanus Plinth tells him he loves him and he cries. Only Coriolanus Snow of all people.
He settles down into Sejanus’s arm again, trying to hide his face away but his friend will have none of it, he pokes at his cheek, the tears still drying, whispering, “Let me see that pretty face again.” Coriolanus obliges and gets the breath knocked out of him for the second time that night.
Sejanus’s brown eyes are the warmest he has ever seen them, so fond and full of adoration that it makes Coryo almost sick. He murmurs, “There you are. I missed you.” Coriolanus’s heart pounds and he feels a steady hand running through his hair again. It works through another knot and Sejanus presses a firm kiss to Coriolanus’s temple. It makes his stomach do somersaults.
Sejanus wraps his arms around Coriolanus and lets him burrow deep into his chest. The warmth seeps through his clothes into his bones straight to his blood. His brain goes a little fuzzy, but pleasantly.
He says out of the blue, “I know you think Tigris only says she loves you because you’re family but you’re wrong. She loves you because of who you are. She loves you because of who you chose to be. And so do I.”
Coriolanus starts, “Sejanus-”
“Listen, I know you can’t say it yet and that’s okay. I just wanted you to know because you’re the only person in this world besides Ma that understands me and doesn’t want to change a single thing about me. You let me be who I am and you have no idea how much that means to me, Coryo.”
His blue eyes well up again and the emotions overwhelm him just a little bit. He can still see Sejanus’s lovely face and that’s all that really matters. Sejanus rubs his hands down Coriolanus’s forearms and rests his chin on top of Coriolanus’s head. A bubbly feeling goes down from his head straight to his toes.
He mumbles, “I don’t think I’m worthy of that love, Sejanus. I’m not a good person.” Sejanus interlocks their hands together and his lips press a delicate kiss on Coriolanus’s cheek, one that he can barely feel but the warmth is still there. It’s always there.
Sejanus simply replies, “Yes, you are. Tigris can see it. Ma can see it. I can see it.”
Lucy Gray could see right through him, couldn’t she? That’s why he left her in the woods that day. So she can be happy with the Covey. Without him. It’s what she deserved after all. He didn’t do anything to help her, only to help himself, and she could see that. Stupid Coriolanus. Stupid, selfish Coriolanus Snow.
He vehemently shakes his head but Sejanus is persistent. He always has been and he tilts Coriolanus’s chin up to meet his eyes. He almost can’t do it but he does.
Sejanus tells him, “You are a good person, Coriolanus Snow. I know you are. The people that love you know you are. They know your heart. Believe me.”
I love you.
I love you.
You need to stop saving me.
Can’t help it, it’s like a tic.
Coriolanus says back, minutes too late, “I love you.” He swallows Sejanus’s words with his mouth and practically pins him down to the mattress again.
Baby.
Baby…
Sejanus’s eyes are glazed over when they pull apart and he dumbly replies, “You love me?”
A wisp of blond hair falls down from Coriolanus’s head and Sejanus tucks it behind his ear. The smile on Sejanus’s face could rival the sun. Coriolanus has never seen it so bright. He nudges their noses together and it’s meant with a small giggle that gives Coriolanus a whole different definition to a stomach full of butterflies.
He simply replies, “Yes.” Their next kiss is softer and he feels Sejanus’s hand find purchase underneath Coriolanus’s shirt that leaves his blood practically singing in relief. He’s always so cold.
Sejanus draws another set of words on Coriolanus’s skin. This time he doesn’t shy away from it.
I love you.
He draws his own words on Sejanus’s back and feels the smile imprinted into his shirt. He wants it there forever.
I love you too.