❤️💜2k yayayayayayyaya💜❤️

"And here's your room, Cross."

The small skeleton stepped forwards, staring at the grey door in front of him with the letters District 12 imprinted in black letters. "Oh, thank you, Lust."

They'd just got into the special facility in the centre of the Capital -which had taken an hour thanks to the over excited crowds constantly calling and waving. He'd tried to smile and wave back to most of them, remembering what Horror had said about making people like you. Nick had just stayed silent and moody, hiding his face under his hood like usual. He'd ignored all the crowds like the plague, much to Horror and Lust's disappointment. Their rooms were in one of Twelve penthouse suites specially made for the tributes.

"In you go then."

He jolted, looking up in surprise to see Lust still looking down at him with an eyebrow raised.

"H-Huh?"

"You drifted off into space, dumbass." Nick called, crossing his arms over his chest.

"O-Oh, sorry." He mumbled, taking the keycard from Lust's hand and swiping it across the door and pushing the door open.

"Dinner will be at six o'clock. Then you'll be taken to your personal stylist ready for the tribute parade, okay?" Lust said, looking down at the small boy.

Cross nodded, smiling weakly. "Sounds fine to me."

"Good, I'll come round and knock when it's time for dinner." He said before trotting down a few metres to the next room, which would be Nick's.

He slowly shut the door behind him, listening to the soft muttering of Nick and Lust's voices through the painted wood. Sighing, he turned round to scan his room. His home for the next few days before he'd be thrown into an arena to die for nothing more than entertainment for the ones up top.

The room was quite plain actually, not being as extravagant as he thought it might be. It was certainly bigger than his old room, being about eight metres by six metres. The walls were painted a passive grey, the floor being dark polished spruce wood that tapped beneath his shoes. In one corner of the room, a large double bed splayed out, white silk covers and pillows resting on top. There wasn't a single crease in the fabric, and Cross felt like he'd ruin it just by looking. Next to the bed was a little table, looking quite simple with a nice varnished marble top to it. A bedside lamp stood on top of it, standing proud and firm.

In the middle of the back of the room, a large dressing table stood with a mirror that reflected back almost all of the room. Its outer edges were decorated with twisted metal painted black, which contrasted nicely with the grey walls in Cross' opinion. In the centre of the room a white fluffy rug was splayed out, looking like sheep's fur. To the side of the room a large oak bookcase full of books Cross could only dream of having. At home, they had five books, and Cross had read all of them at least seven times over.

These would keep him entertained for hours. If he had hours to spend just in his room that is. A table also stood next to the door, one small armchair stood facing it. And then to the side of the room, a door lead off into what Cross could only assume was an en-suite bathroom. Something people in District Twelve could only dream of.

Groaning softly under his breath, Cross walked over to the bed and flopped onto it face first and sinking his face into the plush pillows. It felt like he was floating, literally. It felt nothing compared to the scratchy hand weaves blankets that they had at home. God this felt like heaven. But it also felt wrong somehow. He felt almost selfish for having all this luxury while Chara and his mum were still in their crumbling home, probably waiting anxiously for the first TV showing of the Tribute Parade tonight.

Just thinking of that parade made Cross' non-existent stomach twist. He thought of all the previous District Twelve Tribute outfits and cringed. As far as he could remember, the Tributes from last year had to go out completely naked with only coal smudges covering their exposed bodies. He'd rather wear Lust's skimpy clothes than do that. Or die. That also sounded like a good alternative.

After a while of laying on his front with his face stuffed in a pillow with nothing but his thoughts, Cross rolled over. He glanced around the room hazily before noticing the clock attached to the wall over the front door. Squinting, he managed to read the time. Five o'clock. Still an hour to go.

He mumbled softly to himself, pushing himself back up into a sitting position and slipping off of the bed. He wandered over to the bookcase, his finger brushing over his array of choices before resting on a book title that intrigued him. Pirates.

Shrugging, he took hold of the book and pulled it out of the shelve to inspect it. It was leather, it's spine faded and creased from constant use. This book had probably been in here for the full seventy-four years that the hunger games had gone on for, being read by different people each year. The lettering on the front of the book was faded and the illustration had browned with age. Still, he thought it was a beautiful book. And it was certainly in much better condition than the tattered books he had at home where half the pages were hanging out of the spine.

Already opening to the first page, Cross flopped back down onto his bed and started to read.

——————

"Cross?"

The smol jolted, almost dropping the book in his lap and shooting up to look at the door. "Yeah?!"

"Dinner time!" The familiar voice of Lust called out. "Just follow the hallway and you'll find us in the main area."

"Thanks I'll be there in a second!" He called, looking round for something he could use to mark his page. Sadly, there was nothing. He'd always hated turning the corner of a page over, but the books corners were already so worn that it didn't really make a difference when he gently folded over the smallest bit of paper in the corner instead of attempting to remember his page number.

Right after he scrambled off of the bed tugged his grubby shoes back on, shoving his key card into his pocket and running to the door. Once he was out in the hallway, he immediately turned right, seeing as left was a dead end.

He could hear the sound of the others talking, and quickly followed it to the source.

In the centre of the penthouse, a large oak dining table stretched out, pilled with all sorts of foods that Cross thought existed only in his dreams. Nick, Horror and Lust were already sat down, the two adults talking softly to each other while Nick ate silently.

As soon as he walked in they all turned to look at him, sending uncomfortable shivers down his spine. Not liking the feeling of being a new exotic animal at a zoo exhibit, Cross quickly shuffled over and sat down next to Nick. "S-Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine." Nick shrugged. "We weren't missing you."

The smaller flinched a bit at that, looking down at his lap and nudging at his cutlery halfheartedly.

"Jesus Christ I was kidding, don't cry." He sighed, gently nudging his side.

Cross stayed silent.

"Sweet mother of Jesus."

Lust stared between the two of them before coughing loudly to catch their attention. "Eat up fast, because you're going to be on stage within the hour to talk live on show and gain those sponsors."

Nick leaned back in his chair, letting out an airy sigh. "Oh how dramatic."

"Watch it boy." Horror warned, pointing his butter knife at the smirking teen. "That attitude will get you in trouble."

"We'll see about that."

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Managed to drag this chapter out👌

I attempted to sound more detailed in my descriptions lmao I hope you appreciated it because I had to release my inner architect or some shit idk

Jdhzhsjsjxhsjsjxhxjsjxhhdjdb I've just realised that this book will probably be semi-long. Like uh, 30-40 chapters?

Maybe around the forties?

I dunno we'll have to wait and see uwu

>:3

-Jess-