thecapitol | And Cupid Limps In Two Years Too Late with a Love Letter [Closed]

Entry tags:

And Cupid Limps In Two Years Too Late with a Love Letter [Closed]

Who| Eponine and Howard
What| Two sad teenagers break each others' hearts.
Where| Howard's room.
When| A few weks after the end of the Arena.
Warnings/Notes| Probably swearing.

His pockets are laden down with things for Eponine, little trinkets and shiny things he snuck out of shops and off people's wrists in the crowd. He knows a few weeks in is probably a little fast to be slathering your girlfriend in sparkly objects, but he figures that with death as a constant overhanging shadow, the typical relationship timetable goes out the window.

And that's why she's spending the night tonight, and he's actually bothered to clear up his room. It's still stacked with piles of junk that he's been collecting, some of it useful and most of it not, but at least there's a clear path to the bed through the floor and everything's been laundered. He even made a stack for the broken things, radios and bicycles and other such contraptions, and shoved it into the closet, out of sight.

It's not the ideal locale for a date night, but it's better than nothing. He even bought some flowers, although they were so over-the-top in the original bouquet, with lace and pearls and tacky glittery stars, that he had to dismantle most of it and the lilies and orchids are now manhandled and limp on the bed.

There's a carton of ice cream sitting next to the bed for them, the edges of the packaging starting to sweat as they warm. Howard sits on the bed and waits for Eponine to knock.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And the knock comes, of course. She's a little late, but that's nothing new, so hopefully Howard will forgive her.

Once the door is open and she's in his room, she grins.

"Howard - it smells so much better than before. You have cleaned for me?"

She goes to sit on the bed, laughing as she spots the ice cream.

"Truly, you have thought of everything."

Honestly, a lot of it was just bossing the Avoxes into helping him get everything cleaned up again, but given that he had some hand in tidying up the place he's going to take the credit for all of it. He reaches over and takes her hand, leading her back to the bed.

"I know, shocker, right?" He hops up and takes a seat on the bed. "We can do anything we want tonight."

"I did not think you would ever shock me again, Howard."

Not after forgiving her so completely about the face-eating. That memory still pervaded her mind, kept her awake at nights and made her clench her fists and grit her teeth during the day. Truly, she cannot believe how lucky she is that Howard is so forgiving, so lovely to her.

"Anything? Like, what, Howard? Eat ice cream?"

"I don't know. If you want to, otherwise it's all going to melt. Or we can listen to music or watch TV - not the Games - or, I don't know, I got some books you can read, or we can just snuggle. Whatever you want."

He likes seeing her smile like that, even with those too-bright teeth the Capitol is so fond of. It means he's doing a good job, tending to her needs so she won't leave him. He flops back on the bed and folds his arms under his head, grinning up at her. Stretching out like this pronounces his ribs, but they weigh about as much as a single adult man between them, and he doesn't care if she notices he's so skinny.

"Snuggle?" Nobody has asked her to snuggle before, ever. And Eponine can't make up her mind what the butterflies in her stomach mean - excitement or a fluttering sickness that she knows she doesn't love Howard. Not properly, anyway.

Still, she grabs the ice cream and curls up next to him, carefully not touching. Lifting the lid, she spoons a wee bit out, and holds the spoon to Howard's lips.

"Will you have first taste?"

"Yeah, you know, cuddle." He doesn't know how to interpret her laying close to him but not touching, so he tries his luck with placing a hand on her waist as he cranes his neck forward and snaps up the spoonful of ice cream.

"Mmm. Hope you like raspberry, because that's a lot of berry in that one." He winces a bit as a cold headache hits, pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth to stave it away and making a funny face at her.

Oh, Howard. She makes herself relax, lean into him a bit. She still clutches the ice cream, and carefully spoons another spoonful out. But this time, she playfully plops it on Howard's nose, giggling all the while.

Howard's nose wrinkles and he tries to wipe the ice cream off, only succeeding in smearing it. He laughs and reaches into the ice cream carton, getting a small handful to try and get on her face in revenge.

"HEY!"

He's successful, no matter how Eponine tries to dodge it. But, with ice cream smeared across her face, she finally does cuddle down to him properly, her face level with his shoulder, which she promptly nuzzles against, rubbing the sticky dessert onto his top. That immediately sets her giggling again.

"This is such a waste, isn't it? It is nice to be wasteful, I think."

"Nice to be able to be, yeah." He reaches up and kisses the ice cream on her cheek, then licks it off his lips. One of his hands loses itself in her hair. His smile is white and the magenta of the dessert. "We have everything we want here. I thought of everything."

"Everything..."

She can't help it; she's wistful. She has everything - except the thing she wants most in the whole wide world.

She smiles over at Howard, moving to place her hand on his chest.

"You have done so much for me, you know..."

Howard wonders if she can feel his heart hammering away in his chest. "Yeah?"

"Yes. You have not laughed at me. You have never questioned me. After... after the arena, last time..."

She pauses, hesitant. She's nervous about approaching the topic; it's one they've both avoided, but to her, it's so important.

"Montparnasse would have murdered me if I had done it to him."

A chill goes down his spine, a little shudder that rocks his whole torso, and for a moment his gaze snaps away, as if focusing on the ceiling will keep him to only a shiver. Then he looks back at her and smiles, although it barely hits his eyes.

"Well, I'm never going to murder you. You can lay money on that."

Well, that she does feel, and she leans away, concerned. She watches his face anxiously.

"You're still cross. You know I didn't want to do it, don't you?"

"I'm not angry, no. It's just a bad memory. You know sometimes I need like...time to process stuff." He bites his lip, hoping he's not about to get another lecture about how he's stupid and childish for letting things get to him.

No, not today. She touches her hand to his face, gently.

"It is bad for me too. I did not want to hurt you. But M'sieur Draco... he is like my 'Parnasse. He is dangerous. He makes me do things."

"I believe you." He puts a hand over her hand on his face, watching a drop of ice cream slip down her cheek like a tear. Not like blood, he tells himself. Not like her brains splattered on his face and shirt. Nothing like that.

He sits up and hugs her, hanging his chin over her bony shoulder, because it's a good excuse to not look at her face right now. "'Parnasse is never going to get you here, okay? He'll have to go through me first."

It's half-joke, half-serious.

""I am not scared of him. He doesn't scare me."

She doesn't quite know what to do about Howard's awkward positioning, so she just leaves him, trying her best not to move, not to flinch.

"But he would cut your neck quicker than you can blink. He would have you dead and robbed. He is the quickest I have seen - he would easily be a Victor here."

"Are you scared he'll kill me? No one else from your world is getting here, I don't think. I mean, they didn't even bring that Javert guy back."

He rubs a hand over her back.

"He's not back?" She moves a little closer. "That is good. I hated him in the room next to me, breathing down my back. He made me think I was a criminal even when I had done nothing. But it does not mean that another will not come... I hope they do. Not Montparnasse - he would kill you for courting me. For even looking... I told you I am his."

She seems quite unbothered by her words, and lounges further against Howard, turning her face into his neck.

"Death's not very permanent here anyway. And he's not coming here, and we're not going back there," he says, rubbing her shoulder slightly with sticky fingers. He's trying to think of things that will comfort her. "There's not even anything worth going back to where we're from."

She inches away at that.

"Do you not think so, Howard?"

It's clear that she disagrees with him. She bites her bottom lip, Marius' face floating in her mind.

"Yeah. I do." He leans back too, to look at her face. He knows what she's thinking, and it contorts his insides like yarn. "You're not thinking of that Marius guy, are you?"

He wants her to say no. He wants this to just be another case of silly paranoid Howard, who's afraid of everything and clingy.

"I wish he were here..."

She says it absently, without thinking, and a brief smile lights her face.

"In Paris, he used to feed me. Here... there is food - and the clothes. Here, perhaps he would truly see me."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject