Back at school, Coriolanus watched Sejanus scroll through his phone. Not with envy…in the long run, it was a relief to detach from his phone.

But he was full of…musings.

Since day one, Sejanus' presence had been a thorn in his side, an annoyance to the nth degree. On one hand, he was almost out of the Academy, months away from never having to publicly enjoy Sejanus' presence ever again.

But the Universe hated him. He was sure of that.

His phone, locked thrice in his desk, told him that much.

It wasn't enough that his brain was dumb enough to fall victim to very crass wants, to get Lucy Gray twined around his thoughts, but it had to go and make him feel bad for Sejanus.

Not bad…

He locked his jaw. Not 'bad'.

Make Coriolanus start to like him.

For the first time, Coriolanus understood the pull he had with their classmates. If Coriolanus was interested in friends, Sejanus would be a good one.

It seemed needlessly complicated to begin a friendship this late in his schooling, but part of him couldn't help but warm to the veritable golden retriever that he was forced to share a room with.

Sejanus noticed his thoughts.

"Uhm, need something, buddy?"

Coriolanus could have sneered and rolled his eyes, turning back to his homework. That's what the Coriolanus before this weekend would have done. Instead, he was moved by an uncharacteristic need to offer an olive branch.

"It was funny…" Coriolanus mumbled, feeling like a child being dragged in front of a parent, forced to apologize. The words were drawn from his lips like they were tugged by a string, "With the wine. And my dad." He waved a hand dismissively, not trying to make this moment too dramatic or anything. It was meaningless, really. So what if he threw Sejanus a bone every once in a blue moon?

Sejnaus gave a mischievous smile, "Oh, I enjoyed it just as much as you did, trust me." He tapped his pen on his desk, "I wish I'd managed to carry a few more. Like…eight or nine or something absurd like carrying ten. I wish I could have ascended to 'Math Kid' status."

Coriolanus tilted his head, "What?"

"You know, a kid in one of those zany math problems. Like 'Sejanus is carrying thirty-two glasses of wine…' and then it's followed by some dumb calculus question. I mean, no one ever questions why Sejanus was carrying thirty-two glasses of wine. You just accept it." He shook his head, "I went too small, man. I coulda done more."

Coriolanus tried to imagine it; Sejanus' arms hugging an unreasonable amount of red wine, almost asking to be tripped somewhere between his destination and before he could stop it, a grin split over his face.

Sejanus noticed it but, for some unfathomable reason, didn't tease Coriolanus about it.

"It was satisfying," He finished after a long moment, "To see your dad bend over backward to apologize to me ."

There was a moment, a second hanging in the air, where Coriolanus felt like they were saying everything and nothing at all. They'd swam around some similar thoughts for years, never quite catching each other at the moment to talk about it (not that Coriolanus wanted to) but he felt his better senses press upon him and spur him to offer a quiet thought.

"Dads can sure suck, huh?" He muttered. He was sure, given enough time, he could find a similarity between any Academy roommate and himself, but he'd never dug for the one between him and Sejanus. He'd assumed that they were so categorically different, Sejanus a former District kid.

But they were far more similar than he may want to admit.

Maybe it was just his dumb luck that Sejanus would understand out of any kid. Or maybe dads just sucked, no matter where you came from.

Sejanus gave a furious huff, "Yeah. Wanna make a club about it?" He asked, his jaw twitching in fury, "A 'my daddy is an asshole and all he got me was generational trauma' anonymous meeting?"

"I think we'd need to invite the whole damn school," Coriolanus croaked. Everyone hated their dad in some way here, didn't they? He almost couldn't conceive of a world where parents did right by their kids. You didn't get rich by doing the right thing.

It also wouldn't be very anonymous.

"Well, the weekend's done," Coriolanus got up, cracking his shoulders, "And we don't have to see their faces until Thanksgiving, god willing," He muttered.

"Small miracles. I know they probably booted us out here to get away from us, but it works both ways. I suppose I'm sort of okay about the whole 'switching school' thing most days. Because I don't know if I could stand it if I had to listen to him boast at the dinner table every night."

Sejanus grabbed his backpack off his chair. He paused, waiting.

"What?"

"Aren't you going to get your phone?"

It buzzed from the locked drawer.

Coriolanus entered a good old Western-cowboy stare-down with Sejanus, neither moving.

It buzzed again. ( Ten bucks on it being Tigris, Coriolanus thought.)

"I'm surprised it's still powered on," Sejanus added, blinking at Coriolanus.

"Yeah. Me too." If it just died, well, out of sight out of mind?

Except it wasn't, because his mother would overnight a new phone to his dorm and bother him about it.

He wished his mother wasn't so worried about his safety. The Academy had eight guards roaming the campus at all times. It was safer than the White House, basically! I mean, a bunch of young, dumb, very kidnapable kids of the highest and most powerful people in the United States? The Academy would have a scandal on its hands if even one of his idiot classmates got a paper cut.

The rules at his school were oppressive to him as it was. He didn't need his mother clinging to his health too.

"Sooo…." Sejanus waved toward the desk.

"No."

"'No' we're not going to talk about why you've put your phone under house arrest or 'no' you're not going to get it?"

"Both," Coriolanus grumbled, shoving Sejanus out the door of their dorm.

His morning in which he entered mentally into a quasi-friendship with Sejanus went fine. In fact, it was almost undetectably different from his restrained hatred of Sejanus, with the only discernible change being that Coriolanus didn't imagine all the ways he could stab Sejanus to death with his dull scalpel when they were partnered together.

They were dissecting a frog. It was taking ten times longer because the little knives they were given barely cut butter. If they just gave seniors actual tools, the biology room wouldn't be filled with seniors managing their specimens.

Sejanus couldn't do it. Coriolanus always thought him chicken for going white with a little blood and guts, and he still held to that opinion. He wasn't bothered at all. It was just science, wasn't it? At least Sejanus had hardened a bit; when they first did this lesson as sophomores, Sejanus puked when they dissected something as meager as a grasshopper.

Sejanus leaned in. He caught a whiff of the formaldehyde and looked sallow, looking anywhere but where Coriolanus was sawing through this frog's brain.

"Livia wanted to be your partner."

"Well aware," Coriolanus said. He could almost feel her yearning gaze on the back of his shoulders. But it wasn't him she wanted, not really. She was just intrigued by the idea that she couldn't have Coriolanus.

And you never fucking will.

"Io too, though she may want you for your brains. And I don't think Clemmie's happy either."

Coriolanus set down his knife, "Gaul made the partner assignments for today. Wasn't anything in our control." Though, he was grateful to be with Sejanus, who at least didn't make moon eyes at him all day.

Not that Clemmie did that, and at least she'd help him crack the frog's skull. But he didn't need catty girls fighting over something none of them could ever get.

"You're quite the ladies' man, Old Sport."

Coriolanus pulled a face, something like disgust, and then righted it, swallowing down his own opinions.

"Trying to figure out who I kissed at the Hob?" He asked dryly.

Sejanus clicked his tongue, "Naw. I gave up on that."

"Really?" Coriolanus asked, intrigued. He had thought Sejanus would be a dog with a bone, bothering him until Coriolanus killed them both in a dramatic murder-suicide with a note that just read 'Sejanus fucking forced me to this'.

"I've run it through a million times and I can't riddle it out," Sejanus sucked in through his teeth.

"What about your eidetic memory?"

"Can't remember something I didn't see. And I was sidetracked by the awful shot halfway through." Sejanus said, rolling his eyes, "Keep your secrets, Snow."

Coriolanus dug his hand inside the frog, "I will, thanks."

Sejanus looked down to make a pithy comment, but turned around, face going green.

"Oh, god, if you're going to puke-,"

"I'm fine !" Sejanus lied, coughing up air, but it sure as shit seemed like he was two seconds away from losing his breakfast.

Coriolanus let his thoughts drift away as he went on auto-pilot, digging through the frog's carcass for the heart and stomach, watching his classmates inelegantly hack away at their daily assignment. Gaul was coming around, giving mostly negative feedback, though everyone deserved it.

She passed Coriolanus' table.

"Plinth, if you need to go to the nurse-,"

"Nope, I'm good…" Sejanus held up a finger, but now he was bent halfway in half, head low to his knees.

Gaul and Coriolanus shared a look that neither seemed to believe his claim. Gaul leaned in, smelling like decay herself, but not rotting. No, bitter cherries. It was cloying and sharp and unmistakable.

"Good job, Snow. Someone here wants to get an A today," She added, her voice rising above a private comment at the end. Pairs of classmates turned, eyes jealous or defeated. In front of him, Gaius and Pup had practically mashed their poor, very dead frog into goo, Pup's large and messy fingers unable to delicately extract the organs. He muttered, waving out his gloved hand, splattering frog guts near Sejanus' shoe.

Sejanus flung himself toward the sink near the tables, head dug into the metal bowl.

Some had given up on the task entirely. Three tables down, Livia rolled her eyes, tugging off her gloves inch by inch, slapping them on the black lab tables.

All at once, a series of ' pings ' echoed throughout the room.

"Phones away-," Gaul started to chastise, "And turn them off, please-," But it didn't matter.

Coriolanus watched, wishing desperately he had his phone on him right now, as everyone nudged their lab mates, attention focused on something on the screen.

And then they turned to look at Coriolanus.

Panic gripped his chest.

Oh fuck, this was it. Lucy Gray was going to haunt him. Someone had gotten a video of them in the janitor's closet, hadn't they? Or they'd noticed that he'd followed her. Or someone had been lurking and gotten a video of his confession to Tigris or-

Wait…they weren't looking at him.

They were looking at Sejanus.

Coriolanus felt his stomach settle, though only briefly. In this newfound friendship, Coriolanus knew he ought to be defending Sejanus, but he didn't know what was even going on.

He turned, turning his gloves inside out as he took them off, holding his hand out to Clem.

"Left it in my dorm," He said quickly. Clemmie's eyes were wide, but unreadable. Lyssie was looking at Sejanus with a doleful sad expression, something of pity.

As Coriolanus took the phone in his fingers, Urban's low, mocking guffaw echoed. Gaul was now confiscating phones, but Coriolanus was a quick reader. He just needed a second.

It was a link that some dumb sophomore had spread around, some little upstarting shit who wanted to be seen as cool.

But the news would have made its way to Coriolanus and Sejanus eventually.

It looked like a tabloid article, which no one ever really paid attention to anyway (mostly laughed about it; the year it claimed that Clemmie was pre-engaged to Felix stood out as particularly humorous to everyone) but this was a reputable article. Something that people would notice and care about.

Well, somewhat reputable. People Magazine wasn't exactly the New York Times, but it got lots of attention.

Something that would be spread around.

In big letters, with a photo of Sejanus' father in his black best standing with Coriolanus' father at the damn party, was the following accusation: PLINTH BILLIONAIRE CAUGHT; DOES HE HATE THE POOR?

Well, it was an accusation that was also true.

And it was a horrid title. Not creative at all.

Coriolanus could see Gaul coming around out of the corner of his eye and scrolled to the story.

Whoever had been there at his uncle's insistence had stumbled upon that conversation that Strabo had with his father about the District Schools.

I mean, it wasn't anything actually that shocking. Of course, parents thought that the Districts were crappy and ought to probably be bulldozed and condemned. You didn't didn't get caught saying it out loud.

It wasn't that anyone was surprised Strabo had said this. It was everyone's joy that someone other than their daddies had been caught saying something so terribly inappropriate.

People here thrived off Schadenfreude, and this moment was a perfect example of such.

"Phone, Snow," Gaul said, holding out her hand.

Coriolanus handed it back to Clemmie, "Oh, mine's in my dorm," He blinked innocently at her.

By this point, Sejanus had lifted his head from the sink. He pulled down a few scratchy brown pieces of paper towel, licking sink water to spit out the taste of bile. He noticed the room had gone mostly silent.

"Uhm, why is…everyone lookin' at me?" He asked quietly.

Snow, who usually would have stepped back to join his classmates in their mocking, turned to Gaul, unusually loyal.

"He should know," Coriolanus said quietly. Clemmie turned the phone so that Gaul could see the headline. It wasn't the first scandal to break and surely wouldn't be the last. Hell, they had a strategy to deal with this at the Academy.

"Plinth, go into the hall and look at your phone," Gaul decided after a moment, "Snow, I assume you'll stay with him?" She glanced at their tray, "You're excused."

Sejanus had gotten the sense that things weren't good and rubbed his arms as he exited the room. The moment he was free of prying eyes, he unlocked his phone, his fingers quivering over the numbers.

Coriolanus could see the article reflected on his irises as he drank it in.

And then he did the dumbest thing someone could do; he went to the comments.

Coriolanus swatted the phone out of his hand.

"Dude, no," He shook his head. You were just looking for hurt if you did that.

"They're tearing him apart, Coryo," Sejanus' throat was parched.

"Sure they are. He was caught saying a really shitty thing."

"Okay, but your dad said shit too!" Sejanus spun, furious, "Why isn't he plastered across Page Six?"

"Because it's expected that Crassus Snow will cause a stir. He's been doing it since he was old enough to mismanage the family fortune," Snow hissed, "Oh look at that, it's a day that ends in a 'y' and my father has done something else stupid."

"But-," Sejanus whimpered.

"I dunno what to tell you," Coriolanus sighed, picking his phone up off the ground, "Other than that you should do a phone cleanse too. Until it dies down."

"Will it?" Sejanus asked, sounding small. He was used to being universally liked. It was a rough way to figure out your classmates actually hated your guts and were dreaming of your downfall, but Coriolanus would have thought he was used to that by now, since until two days ago, Coriolanus hadn't been hiding these feelings well.

How strange to be on the other side of it, Coriolanus mused, to care about Sejanus' inner turmoil.

Bizarre, actually. Uncomfortable.

Coriolanus would prefer not to care. Much less messy.

Unfortunately, his mind told him it was not so.

Damn his mental self.

Sejanus looked like he was a kicked puppy.

"It's just different. The bigger they are, the harder they fall," Coriolanus offered rather meaningless platitudes, "Your dad is like Bezoz. It would be like if good ole Jeff was caught saying he planned to tear down every tree left in the rainforest and replace it with a summer house. Like, we all know that, sort of, but the world would be equally outraged to hear it said plainly."

"But my dad said it to your dad at a party. It wasn't at a press conference or at work or-," Sejanus was spiraling.

Coriolanus patted his shoulder, "It comes with that amount of fame. Nothing is ever said in confidence anymore. It's just how it is."

Sejanus slid against the wall, "Fuck. What now?" He asked looking up. At first, Coriolanus was mildly offended that he was being looked at as a master at handling press issues until he recalled that…it was sort of well-known that his father or uncle would appear somewhere.

"You ride it out. Don't let their words get to you," Coriolanus said quietly, "They all have scandals too. And if they start getting mouthy, remind them. Remind Pup that his dad was found to be discriminating against female officers before he was 'honorably discharged'," Coriolanus rolled his eyes, "Or that Persephone's dad was called out for enjoying biting girls during sex, or that Iphigenia's father was found using dangerous pesticides on his crops."

"Wow, you just memorized those, didn't ya?" Sejanus asked with a quiet huff, wiping his nose.

"Of course," Coriolanus blinked. If people were going to come for your throat, for your crown, you'd better be ready for a fight. But the days of wielding swords were long gone. It was all about the secrets that mattered now, "I can tell you the date they all happened. If you need a diagram, I'll draw it."

Or, well, the not-secrets.

Sejanus was excused the rest of the day, Coriolanus as well. He spent the afternoon waiting on a pitiful, mopey Sejanus, who suffered through a very long video call with his father about how to 'minimize the damage' while Coriolanus ferried food from the cafeteria back into the room and beat back hungry, vulturous classmates eager to hear about Sejanus' misfortune.

Only a select few weren't being assholes about it, but that was par the course.

Lyssie and Clemmie stopped Coriolanus on the way out of the cafe to ask how Sejanus was holding up. Clemmie seemed less inclined to care, but not bothered enough to be mean. Lyissie, of course, looked at Coriolanus with her big eyes, insisting that if Sejanus needed anything she was just a text away. Domitia had a few kind words too. Other than that, Florus was the only other one who stopped Coriolanus to offer a sense of condolences, a matter like this is more of a grieving deal than someone dying.

"Hope he can weather it," Florus said earnestly, "Sejanus is too nice to be beaten down by this."

But that was the issue, wasn't it? Sejanus was just so green . At least everyone else here had known about scandals and magazine tabloids from as young as they could read. Sejanus was thrust into it, unprepared.

Sort of a dick move by his dad, honestly.

He brought back Sejanus his dinner, opening the door to find his roommate curled around his sheets, the fabric tied around his throat thick enough to be concerning.

"What are you doing?" Coriolanus asked blankly.

"Trying to choke myself to sleep," Sejanus replied in a mumbled tone.

"You'll have to wait to kill yourself later, food's here. And plus, you didn't do anything." He pointed out, "Look, tomorrow, someone's mom will be found sleeping with the pool boy and it'll all blow over."

Sejanus uncovered his face, sniffling.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Ten bucks on Vip's mom. The Sickles haven't had a good scandal for a while."

Sejanus rolled to grab his food, his blanket still wrapped around him like a burial shawl.

"Twenty on the Breens," He offered with a lukewarm smile.

Coriolanus watched him eat, surprised by his own kindness. It was strange. He didn't know what pushed him to this.

"Can you text Tigris and tell her I'm alive?" Sejanus wailed pitifully, "I just don't want to talk to her right now but I know she's worried." It certainly bothered Coriolanus that he was so…close with Tigris, but he could try to wedge that friendship apart tomorrow.

"Where's your phone?" Coriolanus sighed, standing.

"I took a page out of your book," Sejanus said, wincing slightly, "And in a fit of rage I might have hidden it."

"Where?" Coriolanus asked sharply.

Sejanus gave a tilt of his head towards the bathroom.

Cursing his unlucky stars, Coriolanus flung open their bathroom door to see the top of their toilet sitting on the seat, Sejanus' phone at the bottom of the tank.

Yeah, he wasn't sticking his hand in there.

"Dude." Coriolanus turned, shaking his head, "Overreaction much?" At least he hadn't done that.

"Phones are toxic, vile things," Sejanus argued with vitriol, having come to this conclusion suddenly, "And I just couldn't do it. Texts from people wishing me harm for things I never said. People wishing me harm for being taken from the District schools against my will, as though I agree with any of this! My dad, acting like he said nothing wrong. My mom, apologizing for his bad attitude. I just…" Sejanus gave a gasping breath, "I just needed silence."

"Alright."

Coriolanus paused at his desk.

"You know, it's a big deal I'm doing this for you," Coriolanus announced, unlocking his desk.

"Yeah, I know. You're a fucking saint, Snow," Sejanus hissed, flopping back over on his bed, appropriate fawning not conveyed, "What, do you want a medal?"

Uhm, yes, preferably.

Coriolanus had about a million notifications on his phone. He swiped up to delete them all, going to Tigris' number. Her multiple replies came in quick succession.

CORYO: Sejanus is okay. He just needs to step away from his phone for a bit.

TIGRIS: Oh, oh, OHHHH! Now you answer your phone?!

TIGRIS: I swear, between my two dumb boys, you have one working brain cell!

TIGRIS: Give him my love :(

Ha. Yeah. No, Coriolanus was not going to be conveying that.

Coriolanus rolled his eyes, throwing his phone on the bed.

It was at six percent. If he had just held out another day, he would have been rid of it.

Then he texted his mother, stopping the emergency new phone order.

After, he put it back in his desk, sure he was going to go back to ignoring it.

Yet, as night crawled in, the enticement moved his hands to uncover it again, like a curse on a thousand-year-old totem making it impossible to ignore.

Pandora's box had already been opened.

Coriolanus chewed on his nail as he went to Instagram. He scrolled through a hundred pointless comments and likes, all the way back to last week.

Nothing from Lucy Gray. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or relieved.

He was thinking dangerously. His whole world felt like it was taken and shaken up. He was a person doing things he would never have done before.

His finger hovered over her 'follow' button, for real this time.

Coriolanus pulled himself away from doing something stupid right at the very last second.

But his finger itched all night, whispering sweet temptations in his ears until dawn broke.