❝I'd rather die kind and forgotten than be remembered for being brutal.❞
( *undergoing slight formatting tweaks & adjustments -- the story itself will otherwise remain readable and unchanged! )
⠀⠀⠀⠀ Had Bellamy not volunteered, he wouldn't be sent o...
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( ミ☆ ) FIFTEEN all that glitters
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⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀"How do you want to go about solo coaching?" Demetria gets to asking Bellamy after breakfast the next morning. No one but a chatty Seedy and the squabbling LeFay twins had spoken over the table. It might just be the first time Bellamy is hearing his ally speak now. "You go over interview content with Phawks and Brier first, and I'll work on presentation with Seedy?" offers Demetria. "Or, no, maybe... Maybe I should—"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I'll take our mentors first," Bellamy decides for her. He'd been thinking about it all morning.
⠀⠀⠀⠀Demetria looks at him a moment, surprised. Or, perhaps, a touch impressed. "Are you sure?" Her lips press thin — she doubts him. Given his reaction last night, she has every reason to. "I mean, are you comfortable with that? After last night with Brier and... And everything about Helios—"
⠀⠀⠀⠀"I know. I'm... coping."
⠀⠀⠀⠀Simmering, more like, and Demetria must sense it. Bellamy, too, worries that at some point today, he might cave in or explode. He doesn't want to admit it, how much all of this is bothering him — the looming anxiety over the interviews tonight; of having to face Brier again; of learning the truth about his father. It's a tough pill to swallow... But so is the power all this misery will have over him if he continues to let it subdue him.
⠀⠀⠀⠀He has the bigger picture to think about now. The Games are tomorrow. Now isn't the time to let himself be further distracted.
⠀⠀⠀⠀"It'll be fine," says Bellamy, after a breath. He tries to reassure Demetria with a smile, though he's more-so trying to convince himself. "The sooner I face Brier, the sooner I can shut him out again."
⠀⠀⠀⠀"Why, Bellamy," — she pokes his shoulder — "is that sarcasm I'm hearing?"
⠀⠀⠀⠀He snickers, trying to play it cool, but his heart's not in it. "Right now, my problems are a lot bigger than familial issues. And, yeah, maybe I am still pissed. But you and I, and me and you—"
