How the Days Go By (zakattak)

Midas had woken up early this morning out of habit. He’d usually be running laps right now with his best friend Julian under the training of his father Serge. He was glad to have the morning off though. He had considered going in and doing some mine work with his father again today, but he had been down in the mines late the last several nights helping when he would finish his training, and his family insisted he enjoyed a nice day off today so he didn’t overdo it. Of course that meant he’d want to spend the day with Julian.

Julian really was his only friend. Of course Julian hung out with some other “careers” so they knew Midas by association. They merely tolerated him at best, and that was really only for Julian’s sake. A lot of the girls actually had their eyes upon Midas once upon a time, but that was before the accident. Now with his grotesque scar covering the majority of the left side of his face in addition to all the others he’s accumulated, most girls won’t even look him in the eye. The only person who still seemed to look at Midas as if he were handsome was Julian. Although, that could just be wishful thinking.

As close as Midas was to Julian, it was still hard to read him sometimes. He’s so guarded. Though Midas was shy and quiet around everyone else, Julian was the opposite, but when it was just the two of them, the roles seem to reverse. Midas would spill his heart out in a moment to Julian, yet sometimes Julian could become so distant.

Midas threw on an old t-shirt—well, all of his t-shirts were old. His family couldn’t really afford any new clothes, even though most of Midas’s were getting so tight around his beefy frame these days. In fact he’d had to cut the neck wider and rip off the sleeves on most of them. Occasionally Julian or his mother would sneak some extra money or new clothes into the Farrow household. Though Julian would never admit it, Mrs. Bryze was happy to help. Midas’s parents always appreciated it, but it was a blow to Midas’s pride. He worked so hard to help his family make ends meat. His parents, still used to their previous wealth, enjoyed the free handouts.

He put on a pair of shorts and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. They had some old bread that he toasted a couple slices of and woofed down, but still his stomach grumbled. It was ok; he knew Ms. Bryze would feed him well as soon as he got over there. He threw his pack over his shoulder and headed out the door. He was just entering the Victors Village when he spotted Julian heading up the stairs to his house. Even with his poor vision, it was always easy to spot Julian with his bright golden hair, especially when it was gleaming in the light like today.

“Yo, Julian! Wait up!” Midas called and jogged over to catch up with him.

Midas laughed at Julian’s comment on the Games. “Well luckily I won’t be competing against you.”

He followed behind Julian into the house. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit as Julian pranced inside. Sometimes he liked to compare Julian to a humming bird because of the way he seemed to just zip gracefully from place to place so quickly. Of course he was also aware that quality aided in making Julian a true killing machine, and he was indeed serious when he said he was lucky to not have to fight him in the Games. Of course, Midas could never truly attack Julian and he would like to think the same went vice versa. Though occasionally they would spar together for training, but that was never more than friendly competition. Of course almost anything with Julian is friendly… or not so friendly competition.

“Good morning, boys,” Mrs. Bryze said smiling as they entered the kitchen. “Hungry?” She nodded over to a bowl of scrambled eggs, some fresh bacon and sausage and a jug of orange juice. Midas’s eyes lit up. He’d been through several periods of near starvation when he was younger, but since being taken in by Serge as another Hunger Games Trainee, the Bryze’s always kept him well fed. That was how he had finally hit his growth spurt and continued growing into his current brutish size.

“Thanks, Mrs. Bryze,” Midas said sincerely as he loaded up a plate and sat down at the kitchen table and turned to Julian. “So what are your plans for today?”


((would you maybe make one of the banner things like you did for Julian for me too, babe? ))

Midas smiled as Julian talked about his itinerary for the two of them; he should have known.

“As fun as that sounds Jules, we did that yesterday. I was thinking today maybe we could actually take your father up on his offer of a break for once,” Midas said getting quieter as he went on. He usually lost his steam when it came to going against what Julian wanted to do, but he had been looking forward to this time they would have off for a while and wanted to enjoy it with him.

“I thought maybe we could go for a hike on that mountain trail you like so much, you know, the one with all the flowers? But without racing or anything competitive at all today?” Midas stopped eating his breakfast and looked up at Julian on the counter. He cocked his head to the side and smiled, looking Julian in the eyes.

((babe, I didn't text you because you know you lose your phone every 10 minutes and would probably see this quicker. I called you 20 minutes ago to tell you goodnight, do you even know where it is right now? probably not ))

Midas’s smile faltered a bit as Julian shot a glare at him, but he laughed after Julian left the room. He didn’t regret it though; he knew it would be hard to make Julian skip a work out willingly. Besides those glares may work on most people, but Julian had given them to Midas so many times after all these years that he started to just find them another cute quirk about his best friend. He was distracted from his thoughts though when Mrs. Bryze spoke.

“So, Midas, anything special planned for this picnic?” Mrs. Bryze asked in a perky voice and a wink.

Midas gulped and blushed. “Uh, no ma’am, why would you—”

“Oh Midas, don’t be ridiculous,” she said, coming over and spooning seconds of eggs and bacon onto his plate. “I’m not a fool, it takes a lot of wit to be a victor. I see the way you two look at each other.”

“Wha—“

Mrs. Bryze laughed and whirled back around the kitchen counter, whipping up some sandwiches and snacks for their hike. “Oh don’t worry, I approve.”

Midas blushed and focused on finishing his plate once again. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Julian came back into the kitchen. Midas couldn’t help but smile to himself as he caught a whiff of the cologne he had got Julian. It always gave him butterflies when Julian wore it. Saving up for that had included sleepless nights in the mines, working overtime with his father. In fact, one of those nights was the night of Midas’s accident, marring his left eye and that side of his face. He never told Julian though. Julian had been so upset about it already, that he decided to never bring it up. In fact, that was one of the only times he had seen Julian cry.

“Yeah,” he stood up and brought his empty breakfast plate over to Mrs. Bryze, who traded it for a backpack loaded with goodies for the day. He loaded it onto his back and followed Julian out the door, ruffling his hair just to aggravate him.

Midas laughed as Julian hit him. He thought he noticed Julian reach for his hand for a quick moment, but he must have been wrong, because Julian had turned his attentions elsewhere, putting on his usual front for the outside world. Midas was used to this, but he much preferred the Julian he knew when it was just the two of them and Julian let down his guard more easily.

Midas rolled his eyes subtly as Julian’s friends approached. He guessed they would probably be considered his friend’s too, but it was more an association thing.

“Julian!” The shouted excitedly, and added a quick “Hey, Midas.”

He merely nodded and gave a short grunt in response.

Midas was shocked when Julian turned down their offer of sparring, though he could tell it was a struggle for him. He couldn’t help but smile as the guy and the girl looked dumbstruck. Julian had turned down fighting to spend time with him. He got butterflies.

Midas was still standing there, a little taken aback by what happened after Julian had already dismissed the careers and continued on his way. Midas caught up to him quickly though. Though Julian could outrun him, when they were just walking, Midas’s size made up for the difference.

“Thanks,” Midas said, walking beside Julian “for not backing out of our day off together.”

“You know how much harder my dad is going to push us if Razor ends up winning the games. He’ll want us to top his victory.”

Midas shuddered at the thought. He knew that if anyone in District 2 was more competitive than Julian, it was Serge Bryze himself. He would definitely be pushing the boys to new levels so that they would outshine District 2’s recent victor. He knew Julian would get the brunt of it though, and hated that even more. Julian pushed himself so hard as it was, and Midas always had to remind him to tone it down. Of course he wanted one of them to win the games, but he’d prefer Julian to not kill himself with stress before he even got there.

He watched Julian as they arrived into the flower field the led to the mountain trails. It always messed with him coming here since his accident. All the colors tended to play tricks on his eyes since he saw so poorly out of his left one. He smiled though as he saw the genuine smile on Julian's face, that rare, real smile he liked so much. Midas was getting distracted at how Julian’s golden hair seemed to sparkle in the light when Julian whipped around with that bright smile and announced, “I’ll race you to our spot!”

Julian had darted off. Midas knew he couldn’t beat him if Julian was able to pick up his speed. He laughed as he ran after him. He bounded on top of Julian and pinned him to the ground for a moment. He looked into those bright blue eyes, wide with shock with a devilish smile on his face.

“See you there,” Midas said with a wink, and laughed as he hopped up and ran off into the trail.

Midas landed face first when Julian knocked him over. He sat up and rubbed the dirt off his face and looked at the blonde boy laughing before him. He hadn’t seen him this carefree in a long time. He knew this day off was a good idea, especially for Julian, whether he realized it or not. Midas couldn’t help but start laughing too.

He leaned over and picked a couple of leaves and small flowers out of Julian’s hair.
“What am I going to do with you?” Midas shook his head, smiling.

He looked down and realized his shirt was covered in mud. He hesitated to take it off, but remembering no one but Julian could see him, he went ahead and threw it to the side. Midas was pretty shy about all of his scars, but during their training sessions, Julian had seen them plenty of times anyway. Still, he a little self conscious about them even around Julian and started absentmindedly rubbing his arms to try to cover them up.

In the mountain breeze, Midas caught a whiff of Julian’s cologne.
“You smell really good today by the way,” he said with a knowing smile.