𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟕

that night, jihyun asked hana to help her sneak out. the escort was reluctant at first but eventually gave in to the girl she was beginning to see as a little sister. she helped her get into the elevator and then went back to their floor to sleep after making jihyun promise she wouldn't be gone too long.

jihyun went to the ground floor to stare up at the sky like the previous night. when she arrived, she found donghyuck also there, sitting on the floor and gazing up.

"donghyuck?" she called, sitting next to him. "you got a twelve."

"so did you." he replied.

"how?"

"what? you think i can't get a twelve because i'm not as good as you?" he rolled his eyes, leaning back to look up at the sky again.

"god, you're so self-deprecating." she mumbled.

"whatever. so what did you do in the session?"

"i shot nightlock and a knife at them. then kinda threatened to kill them. there was no glass—"

"—so there was a perfect opportunity." he finished her sentence then laughed. "brilliant. i did something similar."

"really?"

"they were so bored by the time it was my turn to show off that they didn't even realise i had climbed onto the nets and cut some of it to so there was a rope hanging down. then i used it to swing towards where they were and i stole a bunch of their food. they only realised when i was back on the gymnasium floor, holding everything in my arms."

"you really pissed them off." jihyun sighed, but she thought what he did was funny. she would've loved to see that in person.

"clearly i didn't because they gave me such a high score — the highest score."

"don't get all cocky. we both pissed them off and they hate us for that."

"i don't get it. why would they give us twelves then?" he asked, playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"because it makes us a target. the other tributes are going to hate us and go after us first. it's all a strategy so that we lose. they don't want us to win. they've picked their favourites and their enemies."

"and we're the enemies."

"that's one way to see it." another voice added into the conversation.

"and you are one of the capitol's favourite." donghyuck said, glaring over his shoulder at chenle. "how did you get out of your apartment?"

"blackmailed my way out."

"you never fail to surprise me." jihyun said. "congrats on that eight by the way."

"yeah, thanks, but i should have gotten at least a ten."

"you're not mad at us for getting higher scores, are you...? we're not going to be your first victims, right?" donghyuck asked, hesitantly.

he was a bit... intimidated by the younger boy which he found quite embarrassing to admit. while chenle may not be the best at using weapons, he could effortlessly kill with his traps.

"i don't hold grudges. besides..." chenle's eyes flickered to jihyun for a second then he averted them. "i'm tired now. night."