i have some important info to dump at the end of the chapter!

Aren Turing

District Five

Aren and his partner were at the back of the pack of tributes entering the Opening Ceremonies. He could see the crowd waiting for them beyond the building and the massive canopy hanging over it, but it was something else entirely to enter into the wide open space of the city circle, moonlight and street lamps and the glow of the massive television screen casting a bluish white beam over them. It made him feel kind of ethereal, for a split second. He saw many of the other tributes before them waving their hands, smiling, getting swept up despite the apparent costume catastrophe this year was experiencing.

It was like he wasn't in the Games. It was like he was suddenly a celebrity, skipping the murder game for a life of glitz and glam without lifelong trauma. Maybe it was best to let himself dive headfirst into this fantasy, to prevent any genuine panic that being flaunted in front of this many people might cause otherwise.

He heard the announcer's voice booming over speakers that he couldn't see: "Aren Turing of District Five and Ezekiel Avira of District Thirteen have entered our circle, everyone!"

That was him. That was them. He glanced over at Ezekiel and realized how wide his eyes were. He must have looked so stupid. He shrunk in on himself and turned back out to the crowd.

The two of them had shared a stunted, awkward conversation before they took off. Ezekiel seemed nice, but Aren had no idea what he was supposed to say to him. He didn't want to know him, even if they could win together. It would make him sick to his stomach if he liked the guy and then had to watch him kill people.

"It's disgusting," Ezekiel muttered.

At the same time, Aren blurted out, "It's kind of beautiful," as he caught sight of a father with bright blue skin hefting his little, relatively unaltered daughter onto his shoulders. Her hair was in bright pink pigtails.

The two of them looked over at each other. Oh god. Were they not going to get along? Disliking each other seemed almost worse than being friends.

They ran over a little bump and Aren lost his balance. They had put him in really unstable shoes, despite the fact that the Capitolites wouldn't even be able to see them from where he was standing in the carriage. He nearly tipped over the side and onto the street, and he might have, if it weren't for Ezekiel jumping forward to wrap an arm around his middle. Aren was tugged back into the carriage in the split second before he was a goner, an embarrassing lump of scraped knees and bruised pride on the cobble of the Capitol's most prestigious street.

Ezekiel let go of him quickly and as Aren turned around to face him, Karamo Morningstar's chuckle reached every viewer in the country of Panem. "Looks like Mr. Avira is already looking out for his teammate! Miss Bane, can we get a recap on that?"

Of course they would play his fall over and over.

"Thank you," he said, and then said it again because he realized he'd said it so quietly that Ezekiel didn't hear it.

"Just didn't want you to fall."

Aren nodded and looked out at the crowd. He could feel tears blurring his vision and sitting at the edge of his eyelid, but the end of the ceremony was close. It wasn't that far of a ride to the city center, where the president would steal everyone's attention.

He felt his partner's eyes on him and he looked away to wipe at his own. He didn't want the eyeliner they made him wear to run. Did eyeliner run? He had seen tributes with dark streaks down their faces because of crying with Capitol makeup on before.

At least it wasn't all the makeup they had wanted to cake on his face originally. When he first saw his stylist team coming at him with brushes and powders, he physically flinched away. It made his stomach turn to think of how feminine they might have made him look if they hadn't caught on.

"Don't cry," Ezekiel said quickly, almost the moment Aren's hand raised to wipe at his watery eyes. Aren sniffled and tried to push aside any sign that he wanted to cry, but he didn't trust his voice. If he spoke, he might end up sobbing immediately. "They're not going to think of your fall tonight. Other tributes have had more embarrassing shit happen—it doesn't stick with them."

Aren thought back to last year. He couldn't remember a single embarrassing thing that a tribute did that the Capitol really hyperfocused on, but he realized that that was the point. They focused on strengths and weaknesses, drama, entertainment. Not the kind of shit that kept Aren up at night back home.

It shouldn't help as much as it did; after all, this comfort basically amounted to, They're focusing more on how you're going to die than how you almost fell. But it made the entire trip through the Opening Ceremonies much less mortifying, even without nearly launching off the chariot. His ridiculous outfit and eyeliner would be talked about, but no more talked about than all the other tributes'. It wasn't time to worry yet, so maybe it was best if he tried not to.

"Thank you," Aren said. He let out a breath, and it was almost a laugh. Or at least, it was almost a halfhearted chuckle. "Again."

"We're partners," Ezekiel reminded him, but it sounded like he was trying to go back to being gruff and surly. Trying and failing a little bit. "You can call me Zeke, by the way. If I hadn't said already."

"Oh, okay." Aren made a note of that. Zeke. It was a little less grand and intimidating than speaking to Ezekiel, which seemed like it belonged to someone far more detached and imposing than Zeke was proving himself to be. "Well, um, howdy."

Zeke tilted his head at him and barely contained a confused smile, while Aren's face got hotter than the center of a volcano, or the sun. "Oh," he said after a moment, shutting his eyes in amused irritation at the lame joke. "Because… partners."

"I have a friend who likes old American things like that," Aren explained, holding the back of his neck awkwardly.

Zeke looked down at the front of their carriage as he smiled, starting to shake his head a little bit. "You're lucky I'm pretty used to stupid jokes, Aren Turing." He gave his head one final shake, ridding himself of Aren's awful attempt at doing anything other than falling and crying in front of his Games partner. Aren couldn't look away as he disappeared back into himself, focusing in on the crowd again. He was a different person entirely when he was facing the Capitol, rather than when he was comforting and pity-laughing at Aren.

It made him feel good, almost, to know that Zeke would hold off on being so detached for him. That he would be a little softer in front of Aren.

They were in the Hunger Games, and Aren could use all the softness he could get. Even if he didn't want to be friends with Zeke.

They reached the end of the ride, and their horses were halted in their place to watch the president begin the One Hundredth Hunger Games officially. Aren didn't like the way the president looked. She wasn't like a Capitolite, really. She was altered in some ways, but she almost looked like a normal rich person in the districts. It was close to being… approachable. But Aren knew who she really was: a woman who ran this country full of children killing each other, and district people dying, and a constant threat over anyone who wanted it to be any other way. He didn't speak up on politics ever—how could he, when he had so many other things to think of back home?—but he couldn't feel anything other than pissed when she gave her presidential blessing to all twenty-six of them. Gave her blessing for them to kill each other.

The ride back to the Tribute Center was more subdued, as the Capitolites had largely had their fill of them for the night, but the performance wasn't entirely over. Still, neither Aren nor Zeke bothered to wave at the crowd. They wouldn't be favorites for that, but Aren couldn't see himself being a favorite no matter what.

When they reached the Tribute Center again, Aren hopped out of the chariot and looked back at Zeke as he climbed down. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, partner," Zeke said, reaching out his hand.

Aren looked down at it before he shook it, like it was some kind of threat he needed to assess. He liked Zeke, but he had to keep a level head, even next to tall, kind boys like this one. "See you, Zeke."

Zeke's grip was firm in the shake, and it felt like some kind of promise: they were going to be a team, Aren's worries were unwarranted, the two of them were going to face this side-by-side. But everything wasn't going to be okay, and he couldn't let himself think so just because everything had turned out alright tonight.

He turned away, exhaling long and slow as he braced himself for the next chapter.

so here's a chapter about aren being really nervous and cute!

also... i now have a forum for SYOTs! you can talk about this one or really any of them there, including your own if you have one that you'd like to discuss and promote. it's going to be a safe, inclusive forum for syot writers and readers, so if you're interested, check out my profile for the link!

also i know i said this chapter wasn't going to take long but a bitch has gotta nap constantly