Love comes in all shades | Coriolanus Snow x OC |

4. The alarm

 Coriolanus was hit with a cardboard decoration that fell on his head as soon as he entered the Academy. He looked up and saw that janitors were hanging ornaments on the arches along with adorning the ceiling. "Sorry!" One of them yelled and Coriolanus nodded slightly, walking away. He looked at the fallen piece of cardboard. He recognized it as they were only hanged on a specific ceremony. The reaping.

He almost forgot how soon it was supposed to be. The Academy has always taken care of decorations early. They wanted to celebrate that day with due seriousness. And for those who lived in the Capitol it meant splendid looks - both when it came to building and people. Everything and everyone were supposed to just look nice around that date, especially on the exact day of the celebration. Panem had even prepared the whole entertainment program.

"I find it absurd and horrible," Sejanus said with disgust. They were sitting in a class and Coriolanus really wished that he would already drop the subject. It was slowly becoming boring to hear about. Alas, he couldn't just say that to him. It would hurt his feelings as he was really attached to his noble ideals. Each attempt at questioning his standards resulted in him being hurt. He treated it very personally, almost as if his beliefs on that matter were one with him. Yes, it was sad that people their age or younger had to fight in the arena. But it was part of the system. It was better to learn how to use it for one's advantage rather than destroy it all and be forced to learn different rules than those previously established. Coriolanus' life was already incredibly hard the way it was. He didn't need additional drama in it, but someone like Sejanus wouldn't get it. He was just incapable of understanding a different point of view than his own, treating every other take on the issue as a sign of someone's morals taking a hit. It was far more complicated than that and he wished that he would see it. Unfortunately, his upbringing gave him a different perspective. People are just a sum of their experiences, and nothing more. That was the biggest, if not the only, formative factor in their life. There was nothing that Coriolanus could do about it other than just accept it. He just sometimes wished that Sejanus would be able to do the same and finally accept who he was - a kid that came from a rich family.

"I just think it's a waste of time," Clemensia offered her input. "The decorations, I mean," she added as she opened her textbook, looking for something rather unidentified. Coriolanus was close to offering her his help, but before he said anything his eyes focused on the door. Elise just entered the class along with Arachne Crane. That seemed odd, random even as he didn't notice before that they were getting close. But were they close? Or maybe they just met outside of class and decided to walk in together? Will they sit together? Will that be the beginning of their friendship? Will that mean that she'll put him aside? The mere thought was annoying, causing him to press his lips into a thin line.

"Right, it's a waste of our money," Gaius added, but Clemensia didn't seem to listen anymore. Neither did Coriolanus, following Elise's steps with his watchful eyes. Their eyes locked for a moment and her already bright smile became even wider. He couldn't help, but relax. His worries still present, but somehow he became able to smile back. His fingers were tingling again as his mind recalled the memory of him walking her home. Heck, he wished for more opportunities like that, but it seemed like he wasn't going to get many soon. Each time he gathered the courage to walk up and offer again, she disappeared in a car that apparently belonged to her family. It only meant that her walking home on foot was a one time thing. Alas, Coriolanus wished that it wasn't.

Suddenly Clemensia hit the table with her book, forcing Coriolanus to look at her along with Gaius and Sejanus. "Would you be this kind and help me find the definition of the thing in the first paragraph you wrote?" She snapped at him as she pointed at the notes that he gave her yesterday. It was about their economics project. As much as he understood that she wanted to do everything perfectly, they were similar in that way, he couldn't understand why she needed to be this unpleasant. It didn't seem like her as she usually was very approachable and kind, unproblematic even, never causing problems to him. Now it seemed like she acted completely out of character with her sudden display of anger. Snow wondered where it came from as something had to cause it. However, he wasn't that interested to find out. Sure, he wanted her to be calm as mood swings could affect her productivity and ability of quick thinking and that would damage their collaborative work. But if he only knew that it wouldn't, he definitely wouldn't try to find out anything about it.