When Luck Runs Out

Just Dance 2016

"Well, that boosted my mood." John decided, leading me back outside onto the brilliant marble steps. The night was still young, and it seemed like more people had showed up than left. Oh how I love people.
"Mrs. Hudson is going to kill me." I decided, sitting up on the marble banister and letting my feet fall.
"She certainly is." John agreed.
"You don't seem all that bothered by that." I decided.
"Well, I'm not going to get in trouble, I can just pin it on you." He pointed out, slapping me weakly in the arm.
"Oh, thanks John." I muttered, but I really didn't care all that much. At least we weren't being disruptive right? I heard the song that was now being played, a song tried to teach me on the violin when I was little. I learned it of course, but ever since the games I hadn't really been in a violin mood, so I haven't heard the song in ages. So I hummed quietly along with it, quiet enough so I wasn't making a bit scene, but loud enough so that John could enjoy it.
"Do you know this song?" he asked.
"Yes." I agreed.
"You're humming." He pointed out.
"Brilliant observation John." I laughed.
"Want to dance then?" he asked. I looked at him quizzically, as if trying to see if he were joking or not.
"Certainly." I agreed. We linked arms, and this time he led the way up to the ballroom, which was kind of dumb since I was so much taller, and was surely able to topple him with one wrong movement. The dance floor was packed with people, all dancing and twirling and having a wonderful time.
"Have you ever danced with anyone before?" I asked him. I took his hand and he put his hand on my side and it was all very awkward, but we got into proper dancing form and started to step along with the crowd.
"No, not really." John shrugged, stumbling on his feet and accidentally stepping on my toe.
"Obviously." I muttered.
"Oh shut up!" John insisted, but I just laughed. He was adorable. I twirled him around once, and he wobbled and actually let go of my hand because his wrist felt like it was going to snap.
"Try to be more graceful John, you're like a weight." I insisted, twirling him back into my arms and getting back into the default dancing position.
"Not everyone is born with the natural skills of being gay." John insisted.
"You're saying only gay men can dance?" I asked, not wanting to point out that he was my boyfriend and he couldn't dance for his life.
"Most of them, yes." He pointed out.
"Kind of true." I shrugged.
"Did your parents know, you know, before I came along?" John asked.
"No one knew, I didn't even know, I just made myself a shell to protect me from the real world, and it just happen to be you to take a mallet to that shell." I shrugged. John and I spun around, making him stumble back and almost run into some lady whose neon pink hair was formed in a swan or something.
"Well that makes me feel special. My destructive tendencies actually got me somewhere." John laughed.
"Got you out of the games, that's for sure." I agreed.
"That was self-defense." John insisted, his smile fading, obviously replaying his kill of the district one boy in his head.
"I know it was John, I know. We've both gone through some rough patches; we've both got our hands dirty." I assured, smiling gently down at him. He looked so handsome, between his golden suit, his beautiful chocolate eyes, and his blonde hair, flecked with artificial shiny dandruff; it was a mystery that he had never had a partner, girl or boy alike. He was looking up at me with the same misty look, as if observing my every feature, and I just wondered what was going through his head, what he thought of me. Did he think I looked funny, decked out in all this makeup, or did he agree with Mrs. Hudson, who claimed it emphasized my cheekbones and all of that? Did he consider me a trophy boyfriend or one he was kind of ashamed of dragging along? Was he asking the same questions in his own head about what I thought of him? The song started to drop, and as the music lowered I dipped John in my arms. Instead of being the adorable romantic gesture I hoped it would've been, John screamed a little and flailed around, grabbing onto my neck as if he thought I was going to purposely dropping him on his face.
"God, trying to kill me?" John growled, but I simply laughed, pulling him to his feet and standing in the middle of the dance floor. The song had ended and now people we just standing around, waiting for the next song and regrouping themselves. Many were checking their hair and makeup in little mirrors, where they kept them while dancing I didn't know, and didn't want to know, and why they thought it was necessary was even more horrifying.
"Let's go get something to drink." John decided, walking off the dance floor and to the drinks table, laden with large crystal pitchers of expensive drinks. Thankfully he walked right past the alcohol and filled up too large glasses of sparkling pink lemonade, handing one to me.
"Thank you darling." I laughed.
"Don't ever call me that again." John threatened.
"Grumpy tonight are we?" I asked. "Darling." I added with a laugh. Joh just slapped me lightly in the arm, walking away to the doors. I didn't know if he was leaving because he was mad, or just because he wanted to go outside, but I followed anyway, which he was probably planning on me doing anyway. The sky was now darker, some of the lights had gone off in the city, cars were off the streets, houses were dark, and the large neon signs had been dimmed. It was a lot more peaceful now, the crowds had mostly moved into the building, the stars were shining bright, some crickets were chirping in the grass, and there was a slight chill in the air. It was perfect. John and I sat on the banister again, overlooking the side garden, with our feet dangling over the edge. We sipped our lemonade and didn't say much, a couple of our fingers brushing each other on the banister, but it was more accidental really.
"Can't wait to get home." John decided.
"Same here. But that only means we're closer to the next reaping." I pointed out.
"It's the Quarter Quell." John agreed.
"I really hope they don't do anything too bad." I decided.
"My guess is that instead of kids they'd put adults, to show that you're never free from the Capital's grasp." John guessed.
"That wouldn't be too bad." I shrugged.
"Or younger kids." John added.
"No, that's horrible. No one would want to see an eight year old hacked to death." I decided.
"So what then?" John asked.
"We can only guess." I sighed. "But let's not focus on that now, let's focus on now, when we don't have anything to worry about, we can just sit here together, enjoy this beautiful night, and sip our extremely expensive lemonade." John laughed, but held up his glass in a Great Gatsby sort of way.
"I could live with that." he agreed. We were quiet for a little while, and I entertained myself by observing Snow's garden. There were all sorts of bright, beautiful flowers, birdbaths, and flowering trees, but what was obviously the main focus of the whole garden was the white roses. There were bushes and bushes of the flowers, how he got them white I didn't know, were there natural white roses or did he bleach them? Either way he obviously loved them, and the plant was his signature symbol, like devil horns or a godly halo, he had his white roses.
"Have you seen Molly or Mrs. Hudson?" John asked, looking around as if they were somewhere on the patio.
"Not since they left us. I'm sure they're fine." I assured.
"I'm not worried, I'm just wondering when we can leave." he insisted.
"Ya, I'm getting pretty tired too." I agreed.
"It's only ten o'clock." John laughed, looking at the large iron numbers on the top of the building.
"Well, that's too late." I decided with a groan.
"You always go to bed early." John observed.
"Because I don't want to hang around with you losers too long." I insisted with an innocent laugh.
"Reasonable enough." John shrugged.
"Or it's just because I love that I'm actually sleeping. I used to be totally fine with not sleeping for days, but now every minute of sleep I cherish. You never know what you don't have until you have it I suppose." I shrugged.
"Good. Next thing you need to do is eat more." John decided.
"I thought I ate plenty today." I insisted.
"You did fine tonight, but you need to continue. Maybe you'll even gain a couple of pounds!" John exclaimed sarcastically.
"Wow, maybe I'll get over a hundred!" I said excitedly. John's sarcastic bliss turned to confusion very quickly.
"You don't weigh a hundred pounds?" he asked doubtfully.
"Oh come on John, it's a hyperbole." I insisted.
"What in the world is a hyper boy?" John asked with a dumbstruck look.
"Oh come on John, go to school." I laughed. John just rolled his eyes, but knew better than to interrogate me farther.
"If only I could." he sighed.
"Most kids would kill not to go to school." I pointed out.
"I did kill not to go, remember?" John insisted.
"Oh, ya." I muttered. "Well, so did I."
"Well you're a child genius. I'm never going to know trigonometry or chemistry or any of that stuff." John pointed out.
"You don't need that in everyday life, it's not like Caesar is going to ask you to solve some math problem. And it's for the best, honestly if I was trapped in a room full of teenagers I might have a breakdown too, maybe hit a few people with desks." I shrugged.
"I'd hit them with desks anyway, and then blame it on a breakdown." John decided. I laughed, sipping my lemonade and sighing.
"My one goal in life was to skip so many grades that I could graduate before Mycroft." I decided.
"He's like, three years older than you!" John pointed out.
"But I'm a child genius." I insisted.
"More like an adult genius." John pointed out.
"I'm only eighteen." I muttered.
"Considered an adult." John debated.
"I was only seventeen when I went in that arena, it feels like ages ago. But whatever I still had of my childhood, of my innocence, I left it there; with the body of the boy I killed." I pointed out.
"I know how you feel." John agreed.
"It's good to have someone who gets me." I decided.
"Molly would've understood. Did she kill someone?" John asked.
"I don't know, I never watched. She must have though, in order to win, she has nightmares too." I pointed out.
"I didn't know she had nightmares." John admitted.
"Neither did I, but I guess we're getting to know each other better now a days." I shrugged.
"Did you ever talk to her voluntarily when you were a tribute?" John asked.
"No, of course not." I insisted.
"I guess I really was the best thing to ever happen to you." John laughed.
"Yes you are John." I agreed, smiling sweetly at him. Through the darkness his face was illuminated by the distant lights on the house, shadows looming in the corners of his face, he looked mysterious yet absolutely amazing. I still couldn't believe the one person to actually like me was this Greek God.
"Well, you're the best thing to ever happen to me as well." John decided.
"That's a lie. I'm just a positive side effect to this hell." I insisted.
"I don't think you understand that I love you just as much as you love me, maybe even more. You never accept how absolutely amazing you are, as a person, a friend, and a boyfriend." John debated.
"You're right, I don't understand. I don't understand how anyone could see me as more than a waste of space and money." I muttered, looking down at our dangling feet in shame. John took my hand, more like squashed my fingers into the stone with his own, but I got the message.
"You may think you're a waste of space, but I can honestly say there is nothing on this planet I would want with me now more than you. You're priceless Sherlock." John insisted. I smiled modestly; blushing furiously and feeling my heart swell with the complement.
"Oh stop it you." I muttered.
"Ruined moment number, what are we at now?" John asked with playful annoyance.
"Oh I don't know, probably past a hundred now." I shrugged.
"True, true." John agreed with a laugh. I checked the clock again, it was drawing closer and closer to eleven and I really wanted to go home. There was nothing to do anymore, we don't like talking to people, we at all the food we could handle, we danced together, and now we're just sitting around. I really hope Molly or Mrs. Hudson would come and get us. My wish wasn't granted until closer to twelve, and by that time some of the other guests were leaving. John and I entertained ourselves by making a hair color rainbow, whoever found a complete rainbow by separate capital people, we won. Well, our game was thankfully stopped by Mrs. Hudson, who took John and I to go find Molly. She was dancing with some guy I didn't recognize, looking very awkward indeed. She spotted us before we had even entered the room, and she made a quick excuse and scurried away like a scared mouse.
"What a creep." she insisted as the four of us walked back out the door.
"I'll go beat him up for you." John offered.
"I think I could beat him up just fine if I had wanted to, but thanks." Molly insisted. I half smiled at that, not because Molly was standing up for herself, but because John's manly protectiveness was squashed like a bug.
"Anyway, how was the party for everyone else?" she asked. The more determined paparazzi were still lined around the fences, and now we were walking in a spiral of flashing cameras and papers being thrust in our faces.
"It was miserable." I admitted, sidestepping some lady with a large blue foam finger.
"That's too bad." Molly decided, but she didn't sound surprised.
"I thought it was a lot of fun, I met up with Rosa, the old mentor from District nine, she was such a sweetheart." Mrs. Hudson decided.
"Why isn't she mentoring anymore?" Molly asked.
"Oh, she got pushed off the stairs by one of the tributes, broke her hip. I suppose it was traumatizing and all, but she sued the family for all they were worth. Which was really convenient because the boy actually won, so they were loaded." Mrs. Hudson shrugged.
"That sounds like a deal." John laughed.
"Yes, I suppose it's worth it." Mrs. Hudson agreed.
"All right then, next Reaping I'll push." I decided.
"Oh stop it, if you come anywhere near the stage I'll be the one pushing you off." Mrs. Hudson insisted. I nodded, it was fair enough. Finally we got back to the train, which was protected by many of peacekeepers and fences, keeping the wild mob of fans back. They were all screaming now, once more, I even saw a couple of girls crying.
"Pathetic." I muttered as a boy tried to dive through the line of peacekeepers, only to be pushed right back to where he started. We got onto the train and Mrs. Hudson triple locked the door, just in case someone wanted to break in. Molly pulled the shades so that no one could see in, but the train had tinted windows and a sound proof shell, so even if the mob decided to scream with their faced squashed to the glass, we'd never know.
"So, everyone to bed, we've had a long week and the last thing you all need is to stay up even later." Mrs. Hudson decided. I couldn't argue with that. So I went into my room and changed my pajamas, sitting on the edge of my bed with the bedside lamp on in the darkness (I had closed the curtains to prevent any particularly determined paparazzi) and waiting for John. I was tapping my foot semi impatiently, tempted to take advantage of my nice new stack of cigarettes, but decided against it, I didn't have enough time and people were bound to notice, especially John, if he decided to ever show up. Finally, ten minutes later, the door opened ever so slightly, as if he were worried I was asleep by now.
"Still up?" he asked, walking in and closing the door softly behind him.
"I thought you'd be earlier." I scoffed.
"I couldn't find my shirt; Mrs. Hudson had done some surprise laundry." John admitted.
"That's a fair excuse. One time she put some of Molly's red shirts into my laundry and turned my favorite white shirt pink. I didn't talk to either of them for a week until they finally went out and got me a new one." I shuddered at the thought, that had been my favorite, most comfortable shirt. Leave it to them to destroy it.
"That's a horror story only you would cringe at." John decided.
"Was that another gay joke?" I asked.
"Kind of." John shrugged.
"Usually the way gay jokes go is you have to straight to tell them, and not in a relationship with the person you're joking about." I pointed out.
"There are no rules about jokes, you just tell them." John insisted. I rolled my eyes, flopping under the covers and clicking off the light. Even though I couldn't see him from the sudden plunge of darkness, I felt John slide in with me. I found his hand under the covers and held it, but really wasn't in the mood for hugging him or anything cheesy and romantic. I was exhausted, and very much ready for a long night of sleep.