#zero-linux

“bet you don’t have this in district three.” sure, he hadn’t gone out of his way to run into zero at the tower’s coffee place, but it seemed every opportunity was a good enough one to draw comparisons. and sure, normally he hated the tower, the games and everything to do with it, but now capitol coffee was his goddamn paradise and everything he had and zero didn’t have, as was always the case. he held up his stupid lavender oat latte as though it was a fucking trophy. “i’ve been drinking these since i was six. bet you can’t say the same.”

“i’m still not talking to you till you get me a drink,” forty pointed out, leaned back on a lounge chair near the pool with far too few cares for someone who should’ve been doing their job. or should’ve maybe addressed their sibling with a little more urgency, like something from one of the films he’d starred in, with tears and tight hugs and a heart full regrets because he’d missed out for years. that was acting, though, it wasn’t reality. in reality, forty love couldn’t care less. or well, at least he was good at acting like that. he hadn’t even been sure if zero had noticed him, had even looked his way, only that they happened to cross paths again, and forty would’ve been offended if he’d been ignored entirely. “i only drink cocktails without sugar these days, so good luck finding me one of those.”

“if you wear gloves like that, your hands are gonna dry out really quickly. then you’ll really have a reason to start hiding them,” forty remarked. in his own hand, he held a cocktail ( after a few cocktails too many. because as it turns out, designer drugs just weren’t as readily available underground ), and as if to demonstrate his own lovelier - far lovelier - fingers, he stretched them a little, wriggled them. his words were slightly slurred, gave something away that slipped with the lack of coordination, the way the room slightly spun -- the fact that forty had only found some courage after this many drinks. he held his chin high, though. as if he needed to look down on zero, as if he needed to prove that he could, to everyone, at all times.

“zed, come on ---” yuri whined, actually whined, as he pulled on his friend’s arm. his friend, who seemed a lot more like an unmovable object than his friend. maybe it was because zero must’ve been a lot more stable on his feet, because yuri had let himself go a little too much and had definitely had too much to drink. “c’mon, dance with me !!”

the capitol - even compared to district three, home of technology - was advanced to a point it amazed yuri. he hadn’t even properly left the tower yet since his arrival, there was too much to see on the many floors of the building, he hadn’t wanted to overwhelm himself quite yet. he’d found himself on the rooftop now, though, and had discovered something he thought most interesting -- the forcefield around the roof. he preferred not to think of the darker implications of the forcefield’s existence, but he’d at least found some entertainment in throwing pebbles into the forcefield, and watching as they bounced back.