brunch buffet, emerson x javi.

The more Emerson allows himself to focus on the words the other boy is speaking — warm, kind, patient — the more he feels engaged in the conversation they're having. This particular stranger doesn't make him feel like he needs to perform, like there's some version of himself he needs to shift into to avoid any awkwardness or tension. They're just two people talking, meeting for the first and possibly last time in their young lives. He could close his eyes, open them, and pretend he's just talking to some senior student he hasn't been introduced to yet.

Of all the melodies in his head, home rings the clearest.

Despite himself, Emerson feels himself lean forward in his chair. "I'm sorry, I should have asked your name earlier than this." He holds out the hand he hasn't been using to pick at his food, offering a friendly gesture that to this day connects all the districts in a quiet, simple way. "My name is Emerson. And honestly, you look like the kind of guy who could pull off a cool superhero name. I'm thinking something falcon-related." He focuses on Javi's answer, smiling a little wider when he confesses that he would also choose the ability to fly. But then he also admits to loving heights, the act of sneaking onto rooftops to enjoy the view, and its that fact that charms Emerson more than anything else.

"I wouldn't say I'm super into heights or anything, the houses back in Ten usually aren't more than two stories, but I love—" he glances cautiously to the side as if his parents might be standing there, looking on in disappointment with arms crossed. But hard as he might try to conjure them, the empty space is all that stares back at him, and the only judgment he faces comes from within his own mind. He knows the cameras are rolling, but this moment is too fleeting for the Capitol to truly care about airing. Maybe Emerson will be the last person on earth to learn that Javi likes to live a little dangerously. "I love hanging out on the roof, too. Especially when the sun is just coming up. Nothing can beat that."

He relaxes casually into his seat, still just as eager and responsive when Javi talks about wishing he could have learned to play the piano in his youth. The topic of music blinds him to the older boy's attempt to redirect the question, and instead he looks on with a bright expression. He remembers growing up in a world that offered him no shortage of resources, a beautiful home holding a boundless trove of treasures within, and at times he fails to recognize that others do not always share the same privilege. "It's never too late to—" and then he catches himself, feeling the cruel thud of time crashing against him.

For one of them, maybe both of them, yes. It will be all too late.

"Well. If the circumstances were better, I'd offer to teach you." His fingers swirl around a spoon in some fragrant soup he can't name, and he feels anxious about potentially ruining the moment by bringing up the elephant in the room. Morbid truths have no place at the dinner table. But young and naive as he is, Emerson cannot shut his eyes to the inevitable. At best, only one of them will have the chance to feel this moment become a memory, a blurry recollection, a haunting. Perhaps he should be wiser when asking the names of potential ghosts.

"My little brother is better at the piano, anyway. I prefer the guitar by a long shot." He mocks strumming strings in the air, scrunching up his face like the older teens who play heavy metal and rock in their own respective bands. This is his attempt at lightening the mood, but then Javi's last comment makes him blush a little sheepishly, rolling his eyes. "I doubt I'll ever make it to the same level as Paris, but it's a nice dream. Not that I'd pass up being a backup singer in her band, but I don't think she'd want me unless she makes another album just for District Ten."

He glides over points of interest in his mind, trying to find other connecting threads between them. "Do you have any pets waiting on you back home? I have a dog I call Gus, but his full name's August. He's got these freckles that are just like mine."