thecapitol | I've been away for so long

Entry tags:

I've been away for so long

Who| Courfeyrac & Max
What| Brother and sister reunite.
Where| The streets, outside Enjolras' favorite cafe.
When| After this hot mess.
Warnings/Notes| N/A

It wasn't just his broken nose which caused Courfeyrac pain. As he retreated from the cafe, intent on making his own way back to the Tribute Center, he nursed his bruised ego, too. His friends had been angry with him, and rightfully so. However, the feeling was quite mutual, with Courfeyrac feeling just as wronged as his brothers. And they were still his brothers.

That said, punching Enjolras was strangely cathartic. The moment of impact between fist and face had brought about a release of all the tension that had been mounting between his amis for months. It felt like a wave of relief rushed over him and left him feeling refreshed, energized, and a lot less angry. Except for the caked blood on his shirt and the obviously swollen nose, he felt like a new and carefree man.

Now all he wanted to do was return to the District Eleven suites, knock on Cindy's door, and beg her to dote on him for the next few days. Was that really so much to ask for? Courfeyrac didn't think so, though he was more than a little concerned about his appearance now that his friends had thoroughly wrecked his face. He would cross that bridge with Cindy when he came to it, he supposed.

Walking on his own, he lingered outside the cafe for a moment, adjusting his jacket so that his busted nose wasn't quite as obvious. He didn't slouch when he walked though. Even with his handsome face mangled so cruelly, he felt the need to walk around with pride. He sniffed back some of the blood, coughing sharply as he inhaled a bit of the metallic liquid.

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Max is there, suddenly and silently. She offers no judgement or words of comfort, she simply walks along side Courfeyrac ignoring the stares and whispers. His little altercation will be making the headlines soon enough.

Once they reach a space not so filled with onlookers, Max speaks quietly. "You need to set your nose before it tries to heal."

He wasn't quite sure when he became aware of Max's presence. In a way, it felt as if she had been beside him most of the entire night and he simply had not noticed her until just that moment. He glanced at her sideways, keeping his head faced forward as he walked.

"It is that bad, eh? I have not the heart to even look at it." He must look so hideous. What a shame that his handsome face had gone to such a waste.

"I've seen worse. You don't want it to heal crooked; it could make your nose more fragile and likely to break in the future." She's already thinking of the next arena. Fighting, training to better herself is all she does does in her free time, but now some of that time is taken up with following Courfeyrac around even if he doesn't know she's there.

"They don't like your Cindy." 'They' being his friends. "She's in my District. People like her." Then again, it seemed people liked many of the Tributes for no reason other than they were there.

"They like my Cindy enough," Courfeyrac said, barely resisting the urge to wipe his nose on his sleeve again. He felt very self-conscious about the whole ordeal, certain that every person they walked past was staring at his nose. Since it was easier to speak French, he lazily switched to his native tongue. "It is the idea of the two of us together that they cannot stand. Enjolras seems to think I will defile her."

Not that he needed to be confessing any of that to Max. He knew she wouldn't quite understand what he meant, but he appreciated her uncomplicated insights nonetheless.

He was right, Max only understood that Courfeyrac was somehow thought to spoil Cindy, but so far she had not seen him offer her any sort of favoritism. Max decided this was probably an argument about lovers and that if this was the sort of frustration one could expect from having a lover, then Max was going to stay clear of the whole thing when she was older.

A thought struck her. "Does Enjolras wish to be her lover?"

His face twisted in disgust, which only served to cause him more pain from his swelling nose. The very idea!

... That said, Enjolras had been rather surprising in his behavior toward the gentler sex in recent memory. Courfeyrac could not recall his friend ever fancying a girl before. However, with Venus in the picture, perhaps things had changed. Enjolras had been rather insistent that Cindy was his friend. And he'd been so cool in his condemnation of Courfeyrac's intentions toward her. Maybe this was a sign of jealousy. It was something to consider, anyway.

"Cindy would not take him as her lover." His answer was a non-answer, he realized of course.

Max nodded. Courfeyrac knew about this lover business, but she couldn't help noticing he didn't mention if his friend wanted Cindy regardless of how she felt. Max was learning that relationships were complicated and relationships with lovers seemed extra complicated.

The doors to the Tribute Towers opened as they drew closer. "We'll go to District Eleven's suites; Cindy might be there." He needed that nose set and Max thought the idea of seeing the woman might entice him up where Max could then bandage his nose after setting it.

That self-conscious feeling took hold in his gut again and he felt a mild sense of panic taking hold. He hadn't even seen the extent of the damage to his face yet. He was even afraid to touch his nose to get a tactile sense of it. What if he was suddenly unattractive? What if he looked like Grantaire.

"No, my dear." Courfeyrac said as he reached for the door. "I cannot see her tonight. What would she think of me, looking like a beast?" He shook his head. "I cannot see her at all."

"I'll fix you." Max wanted to roll her eyes at his whining. In her opinion he looked the same, just with a broken nose. Surely Cindy would appreciated that he knew how to work through the pain.

Max ignored the people in the tower as she led Courfeyrac to the lifts. "Does having a broken nose prevent you from being her lover?"

"I do not know," he said, at last finding temporary refuge in the elevator. He pressed the button for the eleventh floor as the doors closed behind Max. "She may not find me handsome any longer."

He recognized that this fear was foolish, that the connection between himself and Cindy was more complicated than just attractive woman + attractive man = sexual chemistry. Or at least, he foolishly wanted to believe that, for whatever reason. Pride mostly. Probably. Yes, it was probably pride. And the fact that he adored everything about Cinderella. But that was another point entirely. Cindy wouldn't reject him, he realized that, but that didn't change his desire to look his best for her.

"Do you find me handsome now, my dear?" He was attempting to illustrate his point to Max.

"No, but I did not find you handsome before your nose was broken." The lift doors opened on her floor and she walked out knowing Courfeyrac would follow.

"If your face is so important then you should probably not make the others so angry with you." Not to mention the drinking. Max had observed a number of Tributes and Citizens drinking until their faces were discolored and their personalities changed. She didn't want any of her friends to follow that same pattern, especially Courfeyrac.

Courfeyrac scoffed at her, following her without missing a beat. She certainly knew how to boost a man's ego. Rolling his eyes, he caught up and fell into step beside her, slinging a protective arm over her shoulder.

"I cannot change who I am, sister. I cannot help but infuriate them sometimes."

"You like to antagonize them." She headed for her room where she could mend his nose in private.

Around them the Avox's moved to help, but Max was far too leery of the silent helpers to let them close. They were odd and frightened her in a way she couldn't explain. So far she'd kept them far from her room and her person.

Max pushed her brother towards the nearest couch. "I'll set it. Try not to cry." Her tiny hands worked with the skill of someone trained to care for those injured out on the battle field. There was no gentleness spared for what she thought was his own fault, but she didn't try to make it more painful than necessary. "If Cindy doesn't like your face then she can blame the others."

"I do not," he protested, shooing the Avoxes (Avocies?) away as he sad down on the couch. "They have known me a very long time. They know me well enough to know that I am a tiger and I cannot change my stripes for anyone."

His annoying qualities were only one aspect of his personality. Of course he could be relied upon to be serious and effective, otherwise he'd never have gotten along with men like Enjolras and Combeferre. That said, he almost felt it was his duty to be the lively one, to be the bon vivant.

He scoffed at he warning to not cry, though in truth he had teared up when receiving the initial blow to his face. Courfeyrac had his pride. He didn't want to seem weak before anyone, let alone one who looked to him as a brother, the way Max did. He didn't want to be a disappointment. That said, there was no denying that he was crying from the pain as she set his nose. Nor was there denying the fact that he yelped in agony and belted out a choice profanity in French.

"Good God, woman!" He hissed, almost laughing from the pain centering in on his face. "Tell me it is done!"

"You cry worse than anyone I've met." Crying was punishable at Manticore, but she decided his humiliation was enough punishment for someone so soft. Max cleaned his face with a warm cloth before she bandaged his nose. "Don't touch it until it's healed or you'll look worse." Courfeyrac was so strange about his appearance.

Her brother was, well, he would heal and perhaps he'd learn a lesson, or at least learn to defend himself better. Max mentally added hand-to-hand to the training schedule she was determined to put him on. "Are you willing to see your Cindy now?"

"No," Courfeyrac answered, sulking and deflated on the sofa. His nose may have been set, but he was still nursing his wounded ego. He had been handsome once, Cindy had thought so at least, and he couldn't stand the thought of rejection at this point. He'd rather waste the night away. "She will know that I cried, and we can't have that. No, I think I shall stay here with you tonight. I have missed you, you know. And I was beginning to believe you were avoiding me."

He was strange when it came to his Cindy. Max wondered if all men acted like this when it came to their lovers.

She moved the mess from the First Aid kit to the side; the silent ones would take care of it. Moving onto the couch, Max sat close to Courfeyrac, but not so close as to be mistaken for needing some sort of affection like a child. "I don't think she'll care, but you can stay here." Her body leaned into him even as she looked away. "I wasn't avoiding you. You had people to reunite with. Unsuccessfully."

She may have been intentionally keeping her distance, but Courfeyrac did not seem to notice. Instead, he closed the gap between them and affectionately wrapped his arms around her, signaling that he had already forgiven her for fussing with his nose. He took comfort in her closeness and even more so by the brotherly affection he felt for her. She was like the little sister he'd never had, the littlest in his collection of sisters.

"Actually, I found the evening to be incredibly productive, broken nose aside." The issues between himself and the others of the ABC had been cleared, and as far as Courfeyrac was concerned, all was now well between them. It was funny what good a little fist fight could do.

The look Max gave him said she in no way believed anything productive came out of that meeting. It wasn't that she thought he had lost his friends over some little fist fight, but that whatever objective they had for meeting was lost among the arguing. "Do all your successful meetings end with blood? If so I think we should ask for another first aid kit."

"Not just the successful ones," he said dryly, looking at Max out of the corner of his eye. "We all died together, sister. Those men and I... I suppose you would say they were my fellow soldiers. They are my truest and dearest friends, and a little blood spilled between us is nothing new, nor is it anything I fear or lament."

Died? She didn't show how much that information upset her. Yes, she knew that in this world death did not mean the same thing as in hers, but what of Courfeyrac's world? Did they wake up the next morning or where they as lost to their loved ones as Eva? She didn't want to ask, afraid that she already knew the answer.

Max looked over at him and huffed. "That doesn't mean you should allow yourself to be injured over a lover. Next time I might not be able to fix your face."

He tutted her softly, a gentle scolding all things considered. There was so much she did not understand, and he realized it was not her fault. She was a child and she didn't know his friends or the life he'd led before he'd sacrificed himself. "I shall endeavor to be more careful in the future. For your sake and for my own vanity's."

"Hm, and for Cindy's sake," she teased.

Max relaxed herself in Courfeyrac's arms more, just enjoying his presence and wondering what her other siblings would think of him. Already she knew Zac wouldn't approve of a civilian relationship, but she bet Jondi would like him.

He leveled a serious look at her, not exactly finding the humor in it. "Yes, Max. For Cindy's sake. I would not want her to grieve for me."

She frowned for a moment before backing off of Courfeyrac. "I don't want to grieve for you either." Max hesitated before speaking again, her voice just above a whisper. "Sometimes I dream of Eva. Colonel Lydecker shot her. She wanted to protect me. Us and he shot her." She looked back up at Courfeyrac and although her eyes were dry they still held heartbreak. "I don't want to grieve again."

Courfeyrac felt as though he had been shot through the heart. He'd never wanted to harm anyone, especially not his Max. Frowning, he reached to pull her closer to him. "There, now. No one wants to grieve, my darling. Most of all, I do not wish for you to grieve me. You've had far too many sorrows in your little life. I would take them all away if I could."

"He would have killed you too. And me. I'm the reason she died. They were coming for me and then Zac and Eva decided we were going to run." Max sighed heavily. She had never taken time to process the emotions that night left her with; everything had happened so quickly and then, in a blink, she was in this strange world once again fighting to survive. For right now, in the arms of her new brother, she felt safe enough to think about everything that had happened. Unfortunately, Manticore didn't train them to deal with such things. She didn't understand the pain in her chest or why her stomach flipped when remembering Eva's sacrifice.

"I saw what they did to Jack and I didn't want them to chop me up. I was happy to run."

He shushed her softly, petting her head, hoping that she would be lulled into silence. It wasn't that he didn't wish to hear her. Rather, he couldn't stand to hear her so upset. It hurt him to think about her past and pain. "You do not need to run any longer, Max. Manticore will not hurt you again."

"They could send me back to my world. I was in the frozen lake when they brought me here; the soldiers were looking and might still be there." It was a concern that she hadn't really put much thought into until now. "That's why I have to show them I will win, so they don't send me back. Pruna and Sandy said I need to have Sponsors, but I don't know how to get them."

"You will win, Max." He said that instinctively, but he really meant it true. If it came down to it, he would let himself be killed if it meant she would win. He would do anything to spare her some tragic fate. His own destiny had been sealed. Her life was an open book. "If I were to wager, I would place my bet on you."

"Maybe we could win together and both be free. There was a pair that won together once, although Peeta was much more willing to train than you ever are." Yes, she was ready to poke at Courfeyrac's laziness. It left a strange feeling inside her to be able to be so light with someone. Happiness? She really needed to study emotions more.

He shushed her again, patting her cheek. "I would rather you and Cindy win together. I would not let myself live if it meant that my mistress would die."

"You're an idiot." She said it as though a sister might; a sister who both admired and was embarrassed by her older brother. "Maybe we can all win together. Everyone." Hey, it was nice to imagine that this prison was also one that she could escape from.

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I've been away for so long

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