it's your party;you can cry if you want to | sun.v.v

Sun watched the confetti rain down on day five from his place on the couch. Brightly coloured pieces of paper cut into shapes fell from the sky onto the tributes in an almost comical way.

It would have been funny if it weren't for the blood. It was shed quickly, as if the tributes knew that they were running out of time. The screen flashed from fight to fight, sometimes splitting in half in order to capture everything at once. Sun flipped through the channels on the television set, watching one fight for another on channel three, and then catching replays of the other on channel two. It all happened very fast, and many tributes were killed.

He dropped the remote and hid his face in his hands when one tribute stabbed another through the heart, cringing when the blind one who had played with the Avox in his personal training score stabbed another through his eye.

Sun turned the television off, fingers flying over the buttons, trying to remember how to work it.

Venus and Vepar had been gone for hours, having left the house at three in the morning in order to prepare for the new games day. Sun wasn't even sure if Venus had been home at all, he had waited but hadn't heard him come in.

He was worried about them both.

Sun rubbed his hands together carefully, working the muscle and bone the way that the physiotherapist Venus had hired had shown him to after the bones had begun to heal. His hands were still sore from the breaking of them, sometimes he had strange dreams about that night. Nathanial had stood on his fingers carefully, making sure to break every bone.

"Avox do not speak."

Sun had forgotten that in his time with the twins but Nathanial had been quick to remind him of that when he'd stolen him away that night.

He shuddered, suddenly feeling cold in the expanse of the living room. Large windows looked out on loud skies despite the sun and warmth of the arena. He felt like it was about to rain, the clouds kept threatening it, but so far it had stayed dry.

He stood up and his bare feet met with the fluffy carpet in a happy moment. He curled his toes in the softness and smiled at the yellowness of it. Despite everything that had happened over the past two months, there was still good things too.

Tomorrow he was allowed to go to work with the twins. Today Venus had told him that he couldn't because day five was very critical. Sun hadn't minded, he had been trying to make up an excuse to stay home.

He wandered into the kitchen where a cake was baking in the oven. He hadn't been sure what flavour to make so he'd made both chocolate and Vanilla in one cake. He'd swirled it around in the bowl until it looked like a strange sky and then poured it into the baking pan. It smelled like red and Sun smiled, excitement making him hop from foot to foot as he waited for it to bake.

He was pretty certain that Vepar and Venus did not know that he knew it was their birthday, they had never told him after all. Sun was an Avox though, it was his job to know. He'd looked at their birth certificate one night after finding it filed away in the desk in the den. Another telltale sign was the confetti raining down on the games.

He shook his head and opened the fridge, searching for a strawberry. After finding out that Sun liked them all those months ago Venus had kept the fridge stocked with them. Sun took one and stuck it in his mouth, holding it there and then took a few more and dropped them in his pockets.

Dinner was prepared as well, simply waiting for the twins to get home from work, ready to be cooked at a moment's notice. They came home at sporadic times now, sometimes at six at night, sometimes at one in the morning. Venus was spending more and more nights at the office but Vepar always made it home.

It was kind of lonely but Sun didn't mind too much.

He felt safe inside. They'd gotten new locks installed after Nathanial had stolen him. To get in and out now Sun had to press his hand against the door so that it could scan him. Now no one could get in unless they had the correct biological makeup.

He sat down on the counter and watched the cake bake in the oven. As he watched, the skies finally opened up and it began to rain. Droplets splattered against the skylight in the kitchen and Sun looked up to watch them hit the glass.

The twins would be home soon.

The oven buzzed loudly.
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