𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟐𝟕

the day at district ten was similar to district eleven's with some people being taken away during the speeches and the victors having dinner with the mayor.

the eight were on the train in the lounge area, sat or laying around while waiting for the time to leave for district nines speech. there were nine districts left so nine more days till the big party in the capitol.

"jeno, can we cuddle again?" jaemin pleaded for the third time.

"no." the latter replied, pushing him away.

"why are you so adamant?" jisung asked, annoyed after hearing him ask so many times.

"he's so comfortable and gives the best cuddles." jaemin replied.

"no, actually renjun does." jihyun argued.

"i what?" renjun asked, confused by his name suddenly being brought into the conversation.

"you cuddle renjun?" haechan asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"you're telling me you don't?" she countered. "he's the perfect size."

"please don't—" renjun cut himself off when the girl wrapped her arms around his waist. "nevermind then..."

at the sight of jihyun cuddling the stubborn renjun, jaemin turned to look at jeno with puppy eyes. they all knew jeno's weakness was his cuteness so when he gave in and nodded, allowing him to cuddle, they were not surprised.

haechan turned to look at jihyun and renjun with his arms spread but was quickly pushed away by them both.

"no."

"you guys are mean." he whined, his head falling onto mark's shoulder.

"kids, it's time to go." taeyong said, knocking on the door.

"he's such a dad." jisung said, before opening the door.

"i heard that and no, i'm not."

"yeah, you are." chenle argued, following him to the train's exit.

"alright, i am. there's no point arguing with you two." he muttered, then handed them each a card. "these are your speeches for today. mark, you go first and we also want you to say something at the end."

he nodded, looking through the notes with a distant look. jihyun noticed and patted his shoulder.

"you've got this." she whispered and he smiled.

"thanks."

♆

to say the least, the speech did not go well. several people were taken away and once the group were out of sight of the audience, mark fell to his knees having a panic attack.

luckily, his mentor, taeil, and taeyong knew how to calm him down before things escalated further. but jisung and renjun had to be taken back to the train away from mark because seeing him in such a state distressed them a lot.

"are you okay?" jihyun asked renjun when she found him in his compartment, a book in his hand.

"better." he replied, closing the book. "i couldn't handle it. seeing other people panic like that, it affects me a lot and i start to panic too... especially because it was mark."

"i understand. i feel that way too but i tend to search for something, anything to distract me and i latch onto the thought of it and then im fine."

"i wish i could do that." he muttered.

"you know, holding someone's hand or hugging them helps too. just a suggestion." she said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.