From the confines of his warm bed, Alec heard a soft chiming sound.
He groaned, rolling over and pawing at his pillow. He pulled it up and over his head, sulking under the cocoon of heat he had created for himself.
"Wha' ti' 's'it?" He mumbled through cotton and stuffing.
Next to him, a man rolled over and snuggled up next to him.
"Y'know, I think I'm one of the few people that could have understood that." He said, smug tone audible even through a wall of pillow. Alec made a frustrated noise and feebly kicked him.
"Alright, alright," the man conceded. "Ten-forty."
The chiming of the alarm suddenly seemed much louder, and Alec yanked the pillow off his head, stretched like a cat and finally sat up.
"Ten-forty?" He moaned. "Missed the alarm by-"
"-Yeah, yeah, forty minutes, if that thing was alive it'd probably be pissed." The man sat up next to Alec, stretching similarly. "You looked adorable sleeping, though."
Alec couldn't bring it in himself to be annoyed at that excuse. "We're late for work," he offered as a last-ditch attempt to rationalise matters.
The man laughed, grabbed Alec by the torso and pulled him back down into the bed. "Who cares? We own work. 'Sides, it's Games season; everyone's too busy partying to notice."
Alec winced. "Don't remind me."
"Seriously, what's the issue you have with the Games? I never got that. It's like the biggest profit-spinner of the year for us."
Alec frowned, holding his tongue loosely between his teeth in thought.
"-Have you ever wondered why we still do the Games?"
The man frowned. "It's a symbol."
"Killing kids is a symbol?"
A short silence passed, and the man sat up, prompting Alec to do the same.
"This is a way too heavy subject for the morning," he decided, waving his hands in a circular motion. The soft chiming ceased, and the french windows of the apartment flicked up the time and ambient temperature of the Capitol in glowing blue text.
"Agreed." Alec stood up out of the bed. "A much better subject? Why you let us sleep in, Gany."
"Gany?" The man said in mock horror, crossing the room to the dresser cabinet. "Just because you shorten your name atrociously doesn't mean I do, Alexander."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ganymede," Alec punctuated, leaning over him to snatch a button-up from the rack. "Maybe I prefer something more snappy."
"Judging by your outfit, that's the first and only time you've preferred it," Ganymede shot back.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Ganymede pulled at Alec's shirt slightly. "That's navy blue."
"And?"
"Your hair is bright red, and you're wearing a navy blue shirt."
Alec dragged a hand through his tangled hair and looked around absently for a hairband. "Not against the law."
"It should be, I'm going to the President now."
"I hate you."
"You love it."
The two men glanced at one another, before leaning in to share a kiss. Alec closed his eyes, closing the gap between them and putting a hand on Ganymede's hip.
Ganymede pulled back suddenly, a mischevious grin on his face as he hastily left the room. "Bacon or hash browns for breakfast?"
Alec stood in mild shock where he had been suddenly abandoned in the middle of a kiss. "Fuck you, Gany!"
"Love you too, Alexander!" Came the muted call from the kitchen.
Alec rolled his eyes fondly and turned away, grabbing up a blood-red tuxedo from the dresser.
Their workplace was located on the edge of the Outer Circle, on the same block as the Valerian Tower; thankfully, they lived in the Valerian Tower, so their commute of the day was little more than an elevator ride and a few minutes' walk.
"Aren't you boiling in that?" Ganymede questioned, giving a glance at the tuxedo Alec was wearing.
"Yeah, but I look good in it." Alec replied, flicking through notifications on an intranet screen. "You'd do the same thing if you could pull it off."
"I do every night." Ganymede replied with an arched eyebrow. Alec noncommitally punched Ganymede's arm in response, jamming his screen in his pocket and yanking a keycard from it instead. He put it against a reader on a doorframe, a soft chiming sounded, and Alec opened the door to the building.
"Hi-hi! Alec! Gany!"
"Ganymede," Ganymede corrected under his breath as a brightly dressed woman bustled up to them.
"Are you open?" The woman asked pointedly to the door. Alec wished he hadn't opened it so soon.
"-Yes, of course, come in, Sisyphia," Alec replied, "We were just-"
The woman was already in the building.
"-Opening. Up." Alec made a face at Ganymede, who returned it as the two of them followed the woman into the building.
"Hi, Sisyphia," Alec groaned, moving his hand up and to the right to activate the lights. A soft glowing of blue text on the television screens, a hum from some light arrays, and suddenly the place was lit.
The bar, while small and lowly lit, was considered one of the top locations for the Capitol's rich and famous. Decorated with rich purples and maroons, the interior was lavishly attired and fit for any occasion; while typically they were a high-profile night bar for those with money and fame to be seen, they were known to hire out their premises to those with more money than sense- typically governmental high-ups looking to celebrate their takings at a gambling emporium.
Right now, however, their sole inhabitant was Sisyphia Maurice, a gossip-mongerer they actively tried to avoid and often failed at; she lived at a building nearby and loved to harass their clients.
"Sisyphia?" She giggled. "Please, Alec, just call me Sisy."
Alec wondered what he had done today to warrant this recompense. "Look, Sisy, Games season starts tonight and this is a big money-driver for us, even if you don't really understand that sort of thing. So while I'd love to listen to you trying to get details of our clients out of Ganymede, we're a little too busy." Alec pointed to the door. "Perhaps another time?"
Sisyphia looked affronted. "Really, now, Alexander!" Her tone suddenly became more playful. "Is that any way to speak to a tribute escort?"
Ganymede paused from where he was unpacking a crate. "-What, really?"
Sisyphia bounced on the balls of her toes, her tulle skirt bouncing with her. "I just got the call! I'm the new tribute escort for-" she winced slightly. "-Well, District 7, but I'm sure it's the start of many promotions!"
Alec couldn't help but feel some excitement from the performance Sisyphia was giving. "-Wow, Sisy, well done."
"So!" She announced, carefully arranging her hair as she approached Alec. "I expect I'll be going in a few days, but I want not to be shut out by your security when I arrive to celebrate tonight with my fellow escorts!"
She kept coming closer, and while Alec wasn't one to shy away from a woman telegraphing her interest so clearly, he didn't have much interest in it with her.
"And," she said with a voice ladled in sugar, "I expect to see you tonight, Alexander."
A long and distinctly uncomfortable moment of eye contact passed. Then, Sisyphia giggled, twirled her tulle skirt, and left the building with a clack of her candy-pink heels.
Ganymede made a gagging sound.
"Can't wait to see her pink lace covered in sawdust," Ganymede muttered, bringing out a collection of brightly-coloured bottles from a crate.
"She's going to be hilarious." Alec snorted and shut the door, swiping his keycard against it to ensure it remained shut. "Now, how's the delivery?"
"Short," Ganymede said, picking up a few final bottles from the crate. "About twenty short on soma."
Alec groaned. "Of all nights for them to mess up the order. I'll head down and put in a new one." Alec picked up his keycard again. "Anything else you need?"
Ganymede smiled, crossing the bar to close the distance between them. He planted a chaste kiss on Alec's lips.
"Don't get dead 'till next I see you, as ever."
Alec rolled his eyes. "I'll make an effort. Don't burn down the bar in my absence."
"Where'd I put the matches?"
Alec laughed and left the bar, smiling softly at the morning sun. The days were getting shorter, and it would be cold soon, but for now Alec could enjoy the sunlight.
The walk down to the train station took him across to the dam and down through the Outer Circle to the train station. While he could just put orders into the Capitol Depot, and had in the past been advised to do so, Alec had always preferred the walk to the station itself. It was warm, and the trains were a comforting reminder of infrastructure- that behind the neverending party and social power play, something was there to support it all, to keep it going.
He nodded at a guard he had established a rapport with, walked through the empty sunlit halls of the station. He knew he would have to cease doing this during the height of Games season; during then, access to the station was limited not only by guards but by adoring Games fans looking for the first glimpse of the year's tributes.
Alec had never seen the appeal.
To his luck, a train had pulled in only minutes before- gold-painted with silver lines running across it, it was a District 1 transport train. But no stock manager had made himself available on arrival; no neatly kept man in orange work clothes with a clipboard and weary look. Alec tapped his thigh anxiously, looking for him- he couldn't see him.
Alec made his way down the concourse to one of the District 6 workers, checking the pressure levels on some pipes.
"Hello," Alec said nervously, unconsciously keeping a trained distance from the district worker. "Where is the stock manager for this train?"
The worker paused a moment, before turning his head just slightly. His eyes widened incrementally, and he stood from his crouch, turning fully to face Alec. He took in Alec. Alec did the same.
He's so thin, was the first thought that went through his head. The man- boy- how old was he?- was tall, but even then was terrifyingly lean, almost to a point of malnourishment. And dirty- not just in the sense of being unkempt and unwashed, which Alec had seen enough paraded through his bar. This boy was quite literally dirty, with smudges of oil across his face, staining his work clothes.
Alec didn't know how to react.
And, it seemed, neither did the boy.
"I, uh." Alec took a half-step back. "Where is the stock manager. For this train?"
The boy narrowed his eyes slightly. "We don't have one. Low staff this run."
Alec nodded absently, tapping his thigh slightly faster.
"I, uh- my last delivery was understocked. If- if I was to-" Alec searched in his pockets, pulling out a coin. "Can you put in an order for twenty bottles of soma for me?" He held out the coin.
The boy regarded him and then the coin coolly. He took it, inspected it. He looked back up at Alec.
"How much is this- for you?" He questioned. Alec was unsettled by the lack of emotion in the boy's voice.
"Uh- ten credit coins?"
"Hm." The boy looked back at the coin, arching an eyebrow. He seemed almost angry. "Capitolians."
"-So, you'll do it?"
The boy pocketed the coin. "Yeah. Twenty soma bottles. I'll get them."
The boy turns away without further response. Alec, unsettled at the exchange that had just taken place, adjusted his shirtcuffs and anxiously stood there, unsure how to progress.
He couldn't stop staring at how thin the boy was.
"-How old are you?"
The boy gave a faint grunt of confusion, before half-turning from his work. "What?"
"How old are you? Fourteen? Fifteen?" From the boy's thin features and unkempt hair, even his height wasn't enough to persuade Alec he was any older.
The boy almost, to Alec's trained eye, seemed reluctant to answer. But a flick of his eyes to Alec's blood-red tuxedo and he relented. "Eighteen."
"Eighteen-" he hadn't the size to be eighteen, he was too scrawny for eighteen. Alec felt his stomach turn unpleasantly, and he fished in his pockets again.
"Look- here." Alec held out three more of the coins. "I just- uh."
The action almost embarassed him in its undertaking, but Alec had no intention of retracting his hand until the coins were taken. The boy once more regarded him coolly, before suspiciously taking the coins from his hand.
This time, he nodded reluctantly before returning to his work.
And this time, Alec swallowed and left.
And he couldn't help but feel a strange, suspended pride at the exchange.
Alexander 'Alec' Taupe was submitted by Gerry- with thanks to them for the submission.
With tribute chapters about to get underway and the plot about to begin proper, I would like to thank all who have submitted so far and remind everyone that there is still a slot available for a final tribute. However, if you feel that you have a Capitolian or tribute you want to submit, I'm not above taking late entries during the story if I feel they fit into the plot.
Thank you all for reading thus far.