Sunghoon wakes up the morning after with a dizzying headache and burning forearms. Opening his weary eyes, he's surprised to see another figure beside him, seemingly completely knocked out and wearing a simple black t-shirt in comparison to the Capitol's usual silky pajamas.

In his haze, he does the only reasonable thing his brain can think to do: he reaches out to make sure the person is still alive. He's startled awake when the figure suddenly reaches out before he's even touched him and grasps his arm in what feels like a death grip.

Both of the boys get up quickly, the other jerking forward out of his slumber, and Sunghoon sitting up in an attempt to counter the movement. The harsh grip is swiftly released once Sunghoon yelps, and the trepidation in the room calms once Sunghoon realizes who the other figure is.

Heeseung groans, slumping over and rubbing his eyes, "Sorry, you startled me."

"No, I'm sorry. That was my fault, I wasn't thinking straight." Sunghoon sighs, running a hand through his hair.

He of course remembers how on edge some of the victors have been before. He's heard stories from his aunt about how a victor was on their victory tour, and when the mayor reached out for their shoulder to congratulate them, they clawed the man across the face. It's unsure what happened to the victor after, but the cameras were cut almost instantly.

Most people come out of the games changed. Whether it be general trauma or PTSD, they have it. A lot of it tends to come in the form of night terrors and the incessant feeling of being watched. Sunghoon isn't sure why he knows so much about this, but he has that feeling in the back of his mind that he does .

While he is lost in his thoughts, Heeseung slips out of bed. He doesn't say much, just stretches enough so his back cracks and then enters the bathroom with a stack of clothes he left on the dresser, presumably to get dressed.

Sunghoon is surprised to see a stack of clothes prepared for him as well, and is even more surprised when his eyes finally lay on his bandaged arms. There doesn't seem to be any blood seeping through the cloth, but then he is thrown back into what happened last night.

Struggling. Slashing. Bleeding. Screaming.

Before he even realizes it, he's trembling and dizzy, the numbness in his hands spreading to his arms and chest. He feels frozen in his own body and numbed by his own pain into his bed. He barely seems to be moving but he knows all too well that he's having a panic attack.

Screaming. Slashing. Screaming. The struggle. Blood. Blood is everywhere .

It feels like he's sinking into his own personal hell, drawing in the red and choking on hot blood. He feels eyes filled with malevolence watching him from every angle, and even though his vision is clouded in red, he knows they are watching him.

He continues sinking into the ocean of blood until he feels hands on him, hands around him, pulling him down farther until he hears someone speaking to him.

"Sunghoon. Sunghoon. Sunghoon."

His vision blurs and he's back in his Capitol bedroom, but when he blinks the sea of red envelopes him once again. It's a back-to-back pull and he feels like it's tearing him apart.

"Sunghoon."

The voice rings through his head again, and he blinks, seeing Heeseung's face hovering over his. He blinks again and the boy is bleeding out into the sea of red as well, drowning into the void.

It feels like forever in this blinding color, but eventually he is grounded back to his dull bedroom when Heeseung calls him once more.

"Hey, hey. You're alright." The older gives him a long hug and Sunghoon sits, stunned and bleary from the episode.

He doesn't even bother looking up, he just tucks his face into Heeseung's neck and lets the tears come out. It was the day of reckoning, but even the mere memory of K was enough to send him into hysterics.

Heeseung doesn't say anything— he never was the best with words— just rubs circles in his back and occasionally pets his hair. The rhythmic beating of his chest helps stabilize Sunghoon.

"I'm going to run you a hot bath and then we're going to go down for breakfast. You can be a little late, they won't leave without you." He says, gently letting go of the boy and heading into the bathroom to run a bath.

Sunghoon sits by himself, frozen. He blinks the images of blood and gore out of his vision as he shudders at the memory.

Heeseung comes back out a few seconds after the water stops running, and ushers Sunghoon into the room. He makes sure he's okay on the cool tile before leaving a few seconds later.

Sunghoon is used to having baths— well, not used to, he would have one every few days or so— or as much as the water situation allowed. However, this was much different. This one had bubbles floating on the top, and the water was perfectly warm unlike the imperfect temperatures they had to bear back at home.

Regrettably, Sunghoon thinks about how much his sister would like a bath like this, with the bubbles and smell of roses. He tries not to think of home too much, or he dares to start crying once again.

He lets himself soak in the water, closing his eyes and trying to let everything sink in. He takes a few deep breaths and tries not to imagine the water around him stained blood red.

With the memories of gore flooding back into his mind, he sighs and gets out of the bath, unable to shake everything from the back of his head. He dries himself and puts the clothes Heeseung left on the counter on.

Stepping out of the bedroom, he isn't surprised to see the boy there, but he is surprised when he sees him fixing a cluster of flowers that weren't there the night before.

"I was going to give this to you last night." Heeseung explains, fixing the display just enough to make it look perfect from where he is standing.

"A bouquet of hawthorns and roses, just for you."

Sunghoon smiles, walking over and going to smell the roses, realizing the bath really did smell like roses.

However, while admiring the beautiful display, he pricks his finger on one of the thorns. Looking down, he sees the blood trickle down his ring finger and towards his lower wrist.

Sunghoon looks up at Heeseung, who just reciprocates the look in concern, and when he looks back at his hand, the blood is gone and there is no notch in his skin.

"Oh... well, thank you. I love it." Sunghoon says with a more fake smile, distracted by his previous... vision?

"I'm glad." Heeseung smiles back, although it doesn't look as genuine.

"We should probably head down now, breakfast started twenty minutes ago." Heeseung guides him toward the elevator, and the two of them head downstairs.

There's a coarse silence that lingers in the air, but Sunghoon finds Heeseung's hand beside his and runs a quick thumb across hid hand as if to thank him for the bouquet. Heeseung looks and him and nods just as the elevator doors open.

Sunghoon drops his hand and they walk toward the table filled with mentors, each chatting quietly over breakfast. Jongseong and Jungwon are sitting away from the rest of them having a heated and hushed discussion that only stops once Sunghoon and Heeseung sit down.

Heeseung naturally gravitates to the end of the table where the spot is always left open, and Sunghoon takes his rightful spot to the right of him. Jaeyun smiles in front of him and asks him something about today that he answers automatically.

"Do you know what happened to the training center?" Seon asks as soon as he walks toward the table, pointing to the area where the center doors normally are, but seems to now be covered in a black tarp and lots of wood.

"No clue, it was like that when we got down here." Jungwon says bluntly, finishing up his english muffin.

"Maybe they're going through renovations." Riki shrugs, picking around at his oatmeal.

Sunghoon is served his food shortly after but can't help but find himself picking at the food as well. Seon also seems to be doing the same to his plate of fruit.

"Don't eat too much." Sunoo warms, even though neither boy looks like they're going to be doing so.

"The guy beside me threw up his breakfast before we even started the games." He shudders, recalling the memory.

"Yeah, I know of a few trainees who have lost their breakfast in the bloodbath. Don't eat too much." Jaeyun adds, finishing up his plate of eggs.

"As long as you've eaten enough over the past few days." Jongseong says pointedly, "It's called the Hunger Games for a reason, you don't know the next time you'll get food."

"Don't scare the kids." Sunoo huffs, smacking the older boy, to which he just rolls his eyes.

Sunghoon finds his gaze drift over to Heeseung, who only has a cup of black coffee in front of him, occasionally sipping it and sending a glare over the table at the other boys.

" Tributes will be rounded up in ten minutes to be escorted to the craft. Please be ready when you are called ." a robotic voice echoes throughout the room, and all of the tributes look around at the seemingly bodiless announcement.

"I guess this is it." Seon sighs, pushing his plate of food away from him, clearly losing appetite at the thought of traveling towards the arena.

Sunghoon copies the action, finishing picking over the food that was given to him and instead deciding to look blankly out at the rest of the tributes.

Everyone is present, even K, who seems to have a blank expression on his face, staring lifelessly out in front of him. He doesn't look angry for once, nor does he look excited, he seems completely neutral which is unlike him. Sunghoon is used to the scowl or narrowed eyes. He looks away quickly.

The mentors, although keeping up a cheerful facade for him, all seem to have displeasure growing on their facial features. The normally ecstatic Sunoo looks like he is ready for a funeral, and the cheerful Jaeyun looks ready to drop dead at that very moment.

Sunghoon studies everyone and everything for ten minutes as if to preserve the image in his head, until he is called with Minjeong to head out to the jet. He follows a peacekeeper and his unresponsive partner towards the landing pad, and tries not to gasp when he sees the large craft.

He's only ever seen the crafts overhead a handful of times, and seeing one up close was almost damaging his sense of space within the hanger.

They are led into an enclosed cargo bay with no windows where the first six Districts are already sitting and waiting on the craft. Sunghoon sits to Minjeong's left and gets locked in by a peacekeeper to his seat.

He can tell K is glaring at him from the seats across from him but he pretends not to notice.

Shortly after, Seon is loaded in beside Sunghoon, and the rest of the Districts are brought in as well. Soon after, the plane is getting ready for take off, and Sunghoon feels the weird flipping of his stomach as they get into the air.

The flight lasts for what feels like days but in reality is probably only a few hours, and Sunghoon is soon released and ushered off of the craft to be led to his own personal studio before he is sent up into the arena.

The room is small but comfortable enough, and Seokjin is waiting for him with his outfit.

"It looks cool, but not too heavy. I would say you're going to be somewhere that isn't too hot, and isn't too cold, so no jungles, deserts, or tundras." Seokjin says helpfully, fitting him with the outfit then gasping as he pulls down his sleeves.

"What happened to your arms?! They couldn't have let you go in like that." Seokjin asks in abhorrent shock, grabbing a container and starting to undo the bandages that were carefully placed on his arms.

The ointment he places on it stings at first, but the cool feeling soon seeps into him and fills him with warmth, seemingly healing over the scars Sunghoon knows are going to be there for years to come on his wrists.

Each breath he takes feels shaky, and he feels the need to heave every time he needs to inhale.

He doesn't notice Sunoo when he comes into the room to see how he's doing, offering a small smile as he helps him calm down from what he assumes is another anxiety attack.

"Everyone sends their well wishes. They can't get away from their tributes." Sunoo jokes, playing with his hair as if trying to calm him down, "To be fair, mine didn't even want me to stay."

In times like these, he really appreciates the mentors who have taken him under their wing not even two weeks earlier.

"Thanks a lot, Sunoo. Really." Sunghoon whispers, taking out his anxious frustration on the twiddling of his fingers.

"I don't know why you guys decided to help me and take me in, but I appreciate it so much, and even if I die out there, you're probably going to be the last people I think about."

Sunghoon doesn't meet his eyes, can't meet his eyes, just continues playing with his hands. He feels overwhelmed— terrified, at the very least.

"You don't know your fate, Sunghoon, but I do." Sunoo says comfortingly, finally having to get up.

" Fifteen minutes until pedestals rise. "

With a reassuring final reassuring hug, Sunoo exits the room, leaving only Sunghoon and Seokjin once again. The latter seemingly pretending he isn't listening to the conversation although the tears are visible on his face.

"You can go." A voice that Sunghoon has memorized so well commands as soon as they step through the door.

Seokjin meets Heeseung's eyes and bows slightly before exiting the room. The older boy simply glances around the top corners of the room before approaching Sunghoon.

The younger immediately goes to wrap his arms around the mentor, tears threatening to fall immediately after he inhales the fresh scent of roses.

They say nothing as they embrace, and Heeseung can only hold the back of the boy's head to comfort him.

Heeseung suddenly leans in very close to his ear, " Listen to me. The careers are all stationed very close to one another. It's a large forest and a moor, do not drink the water on the ground. Do not."

Sunghoon's eyes widen, "If you get a bow, staying on the moor will give you an advantage. And do not trust K."

The emphasis has been placed during his entire stay at the Capitol, but the urgency in his voice is enough to make him worry all over again.

" There is something wrong with him. Very wrong, and he hasn't even told me about it. "

Heeseung suddenly coughs loudly, pulling back from him, "So, what are you going to do when you go in there?"

"Run away from the cornucopia." Sunghoon says as the boy fixes the collar of his shirt.

"Exactly. Don't do something dumb." He says sternly, looking right into his eyes. There's something in it, however, that seems to say differently.

" Tributes, five minutes until launch ." A robotic voice announces.

"You still don't remember anything, do you?" Heeseung finally asks softly, looking briefly around the room.

Sunghoon looks at him with an equally soft look, the tone of voice seeming to click something somewhere in his head, "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Heeseung brings up a hand to the boy's face and Sunghoon finds himself resting his head on it. The older just looks at him with a sad smile, "That's okay, you will eventually."

Heeseung keeps talking about eventually and soon as if Sunghoon has so much time before the games.

" Tributes, two minutes until launch ." The robotic voice announces.

"You promise we'll have forever to get to know each other?" Sunghoon eventually asks, foolishly, his heart beating a little faster than before.

"We already have."

" Tributes, one minute until launch ."

In a leap of faith, Sunghoon cups Heeseung's face between his hands and leans in for a kiss.

When their lips touch Sunghoon can feel Heeseung smile into it and he blushes before pulling away.

" Tributes, thirty seconds until launch. Please enter your designated tube ."

"In another life I know I loved you. So I love you, Lee Heeseung."

"In every life we have loved each other. I love you too, Park Sunghoon."