highs and lows | { teddy / mackenzie }

[umber vivuus 12a 🥀 [dars]]

Sometimes, a call wasn't enough.

It was easy to forget about the life he had in the Capitol when he was home and surrounded by so many people who cared. But there were people here who cared, people who understood more than anyone what he was going through, people who meant it when they said they didn't blame him for his actions.

He'd spent the evening with Stella and Ex, said his goodbyes when the sun began to set, but he wasn't ready to go back to the 7th floor yet. Not when he'd have to remember all the places Diana and Zion had been. Even now, he remembered seeing them sitting at the table for breakfast, sitting on the couch when Training Scores were announced. He had to walk past both of their vacant rooms to get to his own, had to walk through the kitchen where he'd been told Zion died to get a drink. They were everywhere, looming like ghosts. And he couldn't face them yet. Not like this. Not sober.

So, after saying his goodbyes to Stella, he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button labeled 6.

The contents of his pocket grew heavy and he found himself actually suppressing a smile. The thought of Teddy, the pinnacle of self-control, giving his sobriety over to a joint was laughable. The doors opened and he walked, quietly, to Teddy's room, knocking three times against the surface.

"Ted, it's Mackenzie. Come hang out!" he said, walking away from the door and taking a seat on the couch. While everything on the next floor was forest themed, overdecorated with plants and pictures of trees and smelling of pine, this floor smelled of parchment. Bookshelves lined the walls, statues sat still and quiet. It felt irrecoverably clean, which made him feel a bit dirty when he emptied his pocket and began rolling a cigarette while he waited.

By the time Teddy was out, he was finished. He made no effort to hide it; Teddy knew. Everyone who paid attention knew.

"Hey, loser. Don't tell me you were going to sleep when it's only nine o' clock."

[Tom]

☾

Mackenzie Pryce was one of the most genuine people he's ever gotten to know.

Despite the articles of District Six versus District Seven that all of the gossip magazines liked to put out, they actually hit it off quite well. Stella, Mackenzie, and himself have been rather dependable for one another. A chuckle on his lips at the fact that every single article he's read from has their districts pinned as rivals to outdo the other because god forbid the middle districts can't get along. A sigh from his lips as he shuts the article and drops it onto the table.

The sixth floor feels empty without Ronan or Leticia. Both of which were different in their living styles on the floor. Ronan was more of a shadow and an annoyance than he would have liked, while Leticia was quieter. Now it was just Star and himself staying on the floor with nothing more than a silent nod of understanding between the two of them. Star's cut his alcohol consumption down by a good seventy percent this games. Despite all of the worries in his skin, he survived this games without having a mental break down like the eightieth.

No Theodore Ursa breakdowns for him to question why he deserved to live.

Three knocks.

"Ted, it's Mackenzie. Come hang out!"

A laugh escapes his throat at the voice. Worry hits him at the depth of joy he gets from this. The reminders of the dead don't fill his chest as much as they used to in the presence of others. His problems were getting less and less of a burden with time and he's learning to love life again in the simplest of ways. Star's goal in the end was to get him back on the right track and actually smile sometimes for real and not for the cameras. Hands glide over his hair, smoothing what he can of his hair.

Outside, Mackenzie waits on the couch he broke down when Ansel Khiev died years ago. The cigarette in his hands doesn't make him uncomfortable, Six had more than enough of it going around on a daily basis that he had to be used to it from being around it. Hell, some of the doctors in Six have recommended him using it to deal with the excessive amount of anxiety that he clearly has.

"Hey, loser. Don't tell me you were going to sleep when it's only nine o' clock."

His eyes already roll to the side at the words. The phantom pain in his leg bursting to life right then as he lets himself stand steady before moving to sit on the couch leaning back into the clean air of the sixth floor common room. The medical book he had been reading days ago, open on the end table. A hum of his throat as he begins to speak.

"No, I wasn't, loser. Was reading one of those capitol articles where they swear we're-" Hand moving back and forth between Mackenzie and himself. "-bitter rivals because of placements. The capitol is weird I swear. They'll believe whatever they want for the drama of it all."

Eyes glance back to Mackenzie as he flashes a genuine smile towards his friend. Bitter rivals. If anyone wasn't his bitter rival, it would be Mackenzie. Mackenzie has always been easier to let loose around and actually feel more like himself than he had in years. Parson may be his best friend from the past, but Mackenzie and Stella were his best friends here and now. Parson would always have a place as a best friend in his heart, but Teddy needed people who understood what he's been through.

Eyes glance to the cigarette in Mack's hands.

"You gonna light that up?"

Star wouldn't care.

Teddy sure as hell didn't care if Mack did.