lost through time | teddyxparson [au soulmates]

[frankel]

PARSON CHAM

The light in the porter’s office has been flickering for weeks. Today Parson fixed it. Nobody thanked him after he screwed the brand-new lightbulb in the fixture, their murmurs are more fixated on District Six’s newest victor. He is there, on the dusty projector that the other porters huddle around.

Each has their own opinion on him, but Parson says nothing. He rubs his wrist and clocks out of his shift.

The little black and white bear inked onto his skin. It has been reaching out for just one hand for a long time now. Especially when it could see the one it yearns for on the television screen. Its mate amongst the rumbling volcano, the one that has forgotten it even exists.

Parson’s evening is empty, he draws out the time until he must reunite with his father for another night by taking a long route home from the hospital. The one that will take him past the victor’s village that now has a new resident. The gates are ajar, the perfect gap for him to slip through.

This is far from the place where Jacob and himself would wait for their lost friend. So many days of waiting, and his face would never turn up. Jacob was the first to give up, but Parson couldn’t let go so easily. But the fog rolled in and those moments with Teddy Ursa just became distant memories until the day of the Seventy-Sixth reaping. He found him and nearly lost him all in the same day. But tonight, he is his own search party that is knocking on the door of a victor’s house.

His eyes are the first to reunite as the door is opened but his lips hold him back and his hand hides the bear that is reaching out. ”Teddy, you came back…”

ELEGANT

[Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]]

TEDDY URSA

A whisper in the wind; there's heat still burning. A lost feeling beneath his skin where he rubs and rubs at the white and black bear. As if it'll soothe all of his troubles, he's already tried to hold on. Outreaching for an unknown; stuck in the shrouds of his own mind. There's wooden swords trapped behind his memories. A boy with a smile that could brighten any terrible day. Only, he can't see the face, all he can see is the storm. Ripping and shredding away at his head. Almost as if the answer is at the tip of his tongue. Dancing through the rain, he feels his hand rub even more as he turns back to the counter where he's set himself up.

An empty wine bottle tossed in the trash. The empty home stays quiet with no life, only a koala in the corner snoring away. Lili and Malachi haven't seen him yet. Would he be able to give them a future they wanted? It's too much to bare his soul once more. His mother had already made her voice said. Father having only left him to his own devices. It's a pathetic feeling as he steps through this strange kitchen that now belonged to him. An eruption of fire still clouding through his veins, an obsidian shore trapped behind his eyes. A victim or a victor, he's always been the one to carry his heart on his sleeve. After his thoughts catch his mind, he hears the door. Step by step, there's a pause as he steps for the door. Familiar eyes reach his own and the name drips from his lips.

"Parson... You're here."

ELEGANT

[frankel]

PARSON CHAM

”Yeah, I am here. And?” Honestly, Parson was dumb for even being here. Is he just being a gold digger, crawling out of the crevices because an old friend is now sat on a pile of gold? Or does he genuinely feel like he needs to congratulate this old friend, one that he nearly watched die on a television screen. Or does this old friend even deserve that? He is surprised his name has even made those lips spread. The first words he had heard from Teddy in a long time that hadn’t been on a television screen.

”Oh fuck, maybe I shouldn’t have come.” Parson steps back from the door and looks down the empty street at the derelict victor mansions that are waiting to become someone’s home. But he looks back up at Teddy in the doorway, his wrist tingles and he grabs it. His fingertips rub against his skin. It is itching again. ”No, sorry…actually. I am here to congratulate you, Teddy! I had no doubts, unlike some. I am glad to see you alive…and well. How’s your head?” He is lying. He did doubt his old friend, just like all the porters that made bets around the dusty projector.

Parson did not lay a single coin next to Teddy Ursa’s name. To him, he became a distant memory that forgot they were even friends. But here he is, trying to claim a prize that isn’t even his.

”So, are you going to invite me into your new big house?”

ELEGANT

[Benson Sharpe D3M [Tom]]

TEDDY URSA

Frozen in the door; there's nothing quite like this feeling. A rush of memories flowing forth, creeping up with the slow crawl of a lava pool. Kids battling with wooden swords. Games of hide and seek in the urban crawls of Six. School days spent as if the world wasn't some torturous place. There's too much pain behind his skin; scars still ever so present. The ghost phantom of his leg aching for a moment before he's lost in his head; stuck staring at a face he'd never thought he would see. There's words coming forth, but he's unable to hear them due to the thrum of his own heartbeat.

Snapped back into the present by Parson's words, his voice is erratically fast as he speaks. "No! No! I'm glad you came. I-" Shutting his mouth, there's too many emotions of elation and surprise coming from him that he mentally retreats. Parson probably saw him. Chester and him. Did he think he was a monster now? Someone unrecognizable? There's blood on his hands now and he can still remember the stinging palm of Saffron Lowe against his cheek. There's a fluttering feeling of insecurity that comes as he rubs his wrist subconsciously. The words drift through the air; gentle, but with something he's struggling to understand. Parson had seen everything he'd done. Didn't doubt his ability to win. Only, Teddy didn't know why. He doubted himself when he'd been reaped. Stood there with the knowledge of thinking he'd die, until he saw Chester believing in him. Flashes of someone else having come to his head during then, almost someone he didn't know, but now he does. The memory of thinking of that boy who's always been a little more confident than him. Parson Cham was who he thought of when he saw Chester.

Breaking from his thoughts, he almost jumps into action. Voice filled with the nostalgic friendliness, he speaks. "Yeah! Uh, come in. Come in. There's not a whole lot to see. I well... I haven't really made it a home yet. I uhm don't own a lot of things y'know." A soft feeling flutters as he steps aside, rubbing at his wrist before continuing. "A loaded question. I'm... okay, I think." Looking away, there's a flicker of red on his cheeks as he says the last thought of his out loud. "Especially with you here now."

ELEGANT

[frankel]

PARSON CHAM

Parson Cham cursed when he watched Teddy walk up onto the reaping stage. That bastard, he deserves this for abandoning his friends. The curse was swept up into air, a leaf carried in the wind which he never attempted to catch. He regrets ever having that thought, even when the days went by, and he watched his old friend make new friends on the televisions. To so many Teddy was just a character in the Hunger Games story but to Parson, he is so much more. A childhood friend. And something else. There is just something else about the guy he has grown up with.

It is something else that made him take this route home and let him slip through the gate without even hesitating. It is the something else that follows Teddy’s invitation into his new home.

Parson has done a lot of things without a thought before. There can’t be something else.

Teddy is trying to brush it off but inside this house is unlike anything Parson has seen before. It is more expensive looking than what he imagined a victor’s house to look like. He is in total awe as he takes everything in around him, looking at the decorated walls and ceiling with a mouth slightly open. ”You have all of this to yourself? Is your family not here?”

Parson leans against a table that probably costs more than him. ”So it is just us two in this big house?” He pokes a bunch of bananas hung up in a fruit bowl on the table, just making sure they are real. They are soft under his touch, they are real. ”I hope so because we have a lot to catch up on. All of that lost time…”

ELEGANT