A/N:YAY! More Hunger Games things! I present to you, Prim and Rory being absolutely adorable. Also, have you guys seen the Mockingjay movie? I've heard it was really good. Anyway, enjoy and be sure to review!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.
"Prim?" A quiet voice called from the doorway.
Prim raised her tousled blonde head and looked at the boy in the doorway.
"Rory," she whispered, "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep," he explained.
"Same here," Prim said. "Hold on." Gently, she moved Buttercup off of her lap without disturbing the cantankerous cat's sleep. She brushed off her dull gray nightclothes (courtesy of District Thirteen) and tiptoed to the door.
"Where are we going?" Rory asked, looking a bit baffled.
"I don't know," Prim said, shaking her blonde hair out of her eyes. "I can't stand in here."
"Come on, I think there's an empty bunker left."
Prim let Rory lead the way through the twisting passageways and eerily silent tunnels until they came to a halt in front of an empty compartment. It really wouldn't have taken a genius to guess why it was empty. Everything was covered in dust and grime, and by the meticulous, germ phobic inhabitants of District Thirteen, would be considered impossible to live in.
"With a few tweaks, I think this could look like the Seam," Rory commented sarcastically still bitter about the stale bread for meals… if they were lucky.
"I miss the Seam," Prim sighed, not sure why admit that.
"You mean Victors Village," Rory corrected.
Quite suddenly, Prim whirled on Rory with a fire in her eyes that he had only seen in Katniss's eyes.
"You don't get it do you?" She snapped. Rory was taken aback. Prim never snapped….Ever. "Even the Seam is better than Victor's Village. You wouldn't get it though. You don't understand having to watch what you say all day every day, because Snow might be waiting for you to trip up so he can arrange an accident for everyone you love. You don't get hiding every emotion you feel about anything because the Capitol is waiting for you to let them know what you care about so that they can take it from you. You don't get how much it hurts to realize that some part of your sister died in that arena and that she's never really going to come back. Or hey, having all your friends turn their back on you because you have a decent meal for a change. So, no Rory, I don't mean the Victor's Village. I miss home."
Prim was nearly shouting now, a year's worth of pent up frustration finally bubbling out of the dark corner she usually kept it locked away in.
Rory knew he had been insensitive and ignorant. He should have noticed how she felt. He thought he was the only one who would realize how Prim felt as the younger sister shoved into the shadows, forced to watch, but unable to help. He should have seen how her shoulders slumped forwards when she stopped fighting to keep up a positive front so that there would be one less thing for Katniss to worry about. He should have realized how her smiles became more and more practiced, losing the genuine light that it had when they were kids. He should have noticed the way she would spend just the briefest few seconds patting Buttercup and staring off into space when she thought nobody would notice. Prim had grown into a woman at age thirteen, and nobody- not even Rory- had noticed.
The shock of Prims anger faded as she looked at Rory…really looked at him in the first time in months. He had become less bony with the precisely sized proportions were served on a day to day basis and his shoulders had become more muscular with the mandatory Military training they were giving them. But what really struck Prim were his eyes, and his posture. He was more slouched, like he didn't want to be seen. And his grey eyes had lost the pride, the hopeful flame that they had once danced with. Now they were just plain old boring grey.
He didn't look like the Rory she had known when they were kids. He looked like a Rory whose home had been destroyed. He looked like a Rory who was preparing for a war that he had seen too much of. He looked like a Rory who didn't know how much more he could handle.
Rory looked exactly how Prim felt. Scared. Grown- Up. Exhausted. Tired of the war and the blood and the pain and the death knowing that there wasn't very much that they could do to help.
"I'm sorry," Prim whispered, unsure whether she is apologizing for yelling, or for everything everyone had lost just because a woman in a stupid pink wig had pulled a stupid piece of paper with her name on it. "I didn't mean to snap."
"I'm sorry too. I sounded like a brat." Rory sighed.
Their eyes met in the dark for longer than strictly necessary, before Prim broke eye contact.
"We should probably sit," Prim said, pointing to the grimy bed.
Rory nodded and settled in next to her, just a little bit closer than would be acceptable in polite company. Prim nestled her head on his shoulder and he ran his fingers through her golden curls. They smelled really good too. He didn't realize that standard issue shampoo and soap could still let Prim smell like the flower she was named for.
"What do you think is going to happen after this?" Rory asked after a long silence only punctuated but the occasional explosion overhead.
"What do you mean?" Prim countered.
"Well, the war can't go on forever, can it?"
"No, I suppose it won't. I guess everyone will start over. Rebuilding all the damage, destroying all the arenas, coming up with a new government…" Prim trailed off, realizing that this wasn't the answer Rory was looking for.
With a deep breath, she started over. "Look, I have no idea what comes next. I don't even know if we're going to make it out of this alive. But I do know that whatever comes next, I will always be there for you."
There was another fire in her eyes now. Not an angry fire that would destroy everything in its path; the kind that made the two sisters alike. This was a different fire, the kind that would warm you on the coldest winter nights, and illuminate the darkness around even Haymitch's heart. It was the fire that made Prim special.
"I'll be there for you as well. Forever." Rory promised solemnly, before a piece of his old goofy grin came back. "Now the only thing left for us to do is survive a war, tell Katniss that we're going out, which might as well start a war in and of itself, and get back to District Twelve."
"No trouble at all," Prim agreed lightly as if it were a basic Medical Sciences class she had to pass.
Rory flashed a lopsided grin and Prim couldn't suppress a giggle. And suddenly they were laughing until their sides ached and cheeks hurt.
"We really shouldn't be laughing, we're under attack," Prim observed once she was capable of comprehensible speech.
"We're in a bunker. What's the worst they could do? Kill us?" Rory quipped. Prim rolled her eyes, not bothering to correct the statement.
"So, how's solider training going?" Prim asked, feeling the urge to keep a conversation going if only to avoid acknowledging that Rory was pressed up against her side with his arm protectively wrapped around her waist. She wondered if he could hear her heart beating erratically against her ribcage.
"It's terrible! I mean, I'm a little ahead since Gale taught me to trap and hunt and stuff, but it's exhausting!" Rory launched into why the entire idea of the training was ridiculous. "But don't worry. Because at the rate we're going, I won't even be half way through with training by the time this war is over, so I won't have to leave," He finished brightly, as if he could sense Prim's thoughts.
"We can arrange Katniss's coming home party," she offered, smiling shyly at him.
"With cake," Rory agreed.
The conversation had reached a point where they were content with everything they had said, like they had reached a mutual understanding about the other's thoughts. Their eyes met, blue resting on grey for one second… two seconds, before Prim realized that they were getting closer to each other than they had ever been before. She raised her chin out of instinct, a heartbeat before their lips met shyly in an innocent first kiss.
Prim wasn't sure if her teeth were supposed to bash against his like that, but she was sure of one thing: It was Rory who had pulled her pigtails when they were kids. It was Rory who had taken care of her cat when she was sick. It was Rory, who had been there to hold her hand when her sister had been in those games. It was Rory who she had slowly but surely fallen in love with.
Aww Those two! So, remember to leave a review!