Luhan stood under the hot blazing sun impatiently. He was constantly adjusting the uncomfortable collar of his collared shirt. Today was the Reaping and he was wearing the Reaping outfit his mother had chosen for him. Luhan wished that they would just choose the tributes for this year’s Hunger Games. A girl beside him let out a huff of complete happiness; other girls around him began to silently cheer. The question was what the heck was happening? Luhan looked around questionably; he wasn’t really paying attention to what the announcer, Viranda, had said.

“What’s going on?” Luhan asked the girl who merely laughed in response.

“Luck for all the girls in the pool of tributes, turns out this year has a unique theme, only boys get chosen.”

“Really” Luhan was dumbfounded, that meant he had a higher chance of being chosen, even though before, the chances were not very high, but anything could happen.

“Now for the tributes from District 4,” the announcer said as she approached the bowl filled with the names of all the boys eligible for Reaping. “First we have Do Kyungsoo.”

Luhan peered over to see Kyungsoo, he knew quite a bit about Kyungsoo, he was a large eyed kid who had fair skin like his, despite being from the fishing district, and he was very diligent in studies, always scoring the highest marks. Luhan recalled when he and Kyungsoo were in the same fishing class; they had teamed together and caught a large blue-fin tuna, earning the cries of approval from everyone else including the instructor. But however, it seems that Luhan knowing Kyungsoo would never have a real impact because Kyungsoo was destined to die. Luhan knew that Kyungsoo absolutely at every outdoorsy sport there was. Numerous times when Luhan was out playing soccer on the seldom times they were given free time, he would see Kyungsoo inside, presumably reading books till he had no more books to read. Kyungsoo would be a valuable option in the games however, he was very knowledgeable. Luhan knew that Kyungsoo had a chance, he would immediately be part of the Careers with District 1 and 2 and the other poor er who got reaped.

Luhan watched as Kyungsoo timidly stepped his way up to the podium with Viranda. “My, my, aren’t you a cute kid, and such fair skin. How old are you Kyungsoo?”

“I’m 17.” Kyungsoo answered his gaze trained presumably on his family members.

“Well isn’t that nice? Let’s pick our next tribute shall we?” Viranda asked rhetorically. She was supposed to pick the next tribute, it was her job. Viranda walked over to the bowl again and in the same fashion picked out another slip in the sea of other slips.

Luhan secretly crossed his fingers; it was unlikely that it would be him right? Out of all the boys it couldn’t be him. But curse all the luck Luhan thought he sort of had. Because in that next moment, Viranda is yelling Xi Luhan and he’s practically being pushed into the walkway. Luhan’s eyes run over the crowd and he sees his mother who looks very grave and on the verge of tears. Luhan hopes someone will take care of her, his father had left them and she was alone, Luhan’s sister was reaped five years ago and he can remember her walking down the same walkway. Luhan remembers running over to her, almost in tears, a pretty unmanly 13 year old. He remembers how stupid he was screaming “I volunteer!” because in that next moment his sister slapped him across his face, either because of his stupidity or just to shut him up. He was then dragged back into the crowd. At least he wasn’t reprimanded for his actions, it was normal everyone else in the district understood the pain he was feeling, his own sister being sent to her death, which she was.

But this time, nobody’s going to volunteer in place of Luhan, because who would do that? Luhan knows he’s not popular enough with the people to be volunteered in favor of. Hardly anyone volunteers, the real fear of being sent to intimate death isn’t inviting.

Luhan walks his way up to the podium and stands on the left side of Viranda as Kyungsoo stands on her right.

“Xi Luhan that name rings a bell. You’re that kid that tried to volunteer for your sister, aren’t you? Your sister, Xi Taeyeon” Viranda seems to recall, surprisingly.

“That’s right.” Luhan chokes out; he remembers his sister’s honey brown hair that matched his and their matching pale skin. He thinks about the life Taeyeon could’ve had but will never have. Luhan thinks of childish memories of him and Taeyeon fishing together.

“How old are you?” Viranda asks with a toothy, annoying smile.

“18” It was his last year of the Reaping, if he had just made it through one more year he would be safe for life.

“I remember your sister was about 16 when she was reaped, correct?” Viranda asks innocently, it’s expected though, Capitol people don’t care about what emotions they trigger or if they know they’re hitting a soft spot. They just want the gossip and the publicity. Luhan figures that she wants him to break down and start crying just like five years ago.

“Yep, 17 to be exact, but nice job trying to care” Luhan answers back. He’s not trying to answer back to venomously, but he does anyways. Luhan can hear a few gasps in the crowd but that’s normal, it’s mostly people who don’t specifically know Luhan and his snappy attitude that he knows how to use when necessary.

But thanks to his snappy old self, this shuts up the subject about Taeyeon and Viranda tries to act as unfazed as possible.

“Well, here are our tributes!” She exclaims.

Luhan and Kyungsoo both exchange a few words with their families and are whisked away to the Capitol. They meet up with their stylists and separate.

Luhan almost cries in pain because right now the prep team is ripping whatever hair on his body off. He didn’t even have that much hair to begin with, but now he felt bare. They try to tell him the more he cooperates, the faster it’ll be but he doesn’t care. Because when he looks in the mirror all he sees are his girlish features and he feels stripped of his manliness. He’s further groomed and then they’re adding eyeliner to his eyes.

“What why do I need that I’m not a girl” Luhan protested but the eyeliner is already on and they are taking a can and a small pot and messing with Luhan’s hair. They tell him to close his eyes and he does, grudgingly. He feels them blowing his hair with a hairdryer and spraying it, he feels globs of hair gel being pressed into his hair. He opens his eyes and look in the mirror, all his hair is now blown upward and it’s no longer covering his face, much to his displeasure. His forehead feels bare without his hair protecting it. What Luhan doesn’t notice is that they’re now powdering his pace; he lets out a strangled cough as it sets.

“It’s so you look even paler, this year your stylists are going to take advantage of how you’re both pale.” One of them informs.

Someone brings some clothes for Luhan to wear and he quickly slips it on. It’s simple, but looks strange. He meets up with Kyungsoo and they’re wearing matching outfits but in different colors.  They’re wearing board shorts, and tight v necks. Something that in a perfect world would be worn at the beach rather than the Opening Ceremonies.

“It’s going to wow the audience, you both are so good looking that they’re going to see your playful cute side.” The stylists, Juniper and Rosalie, explain.

Our chariot is moving and we’re gripping for dear life. Kyungsoo looks over at me and smiles.

“I see you were obviously over pampered as well.”

“I thought I wasn’t going to make it.”

“Well you seem okay; they tried to pluck my eyebrows.” Kyungsoo laughs pointing at his thick eyebrows, “obviously didn’t work.”

“I can’t really imagine you with thin eyebrows to be honest.” Luhan admits with another laugh.

They’re interrupted by cheers from the citizens of the Capitol. Luhan remembers what Juniper told him and winked at the screen when the camera was on him and Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo gave an adorable heart shaped smile that caused some Capitol citizens to scream. Luhan looked ahead; District 3 was sporting some real flashy clothes. The two were wearing glowing clothes that were illuminating the chariot. The rest of the Opening Ceremonies were lame, it was the usual. That night, Kyungsoo and Luhan ate a feast, dining on the wonderful foods of the Capitol and they talked about that time they caught the blue-fin tuna. They talked of the times they saw each other at school and how they never really formally met before. That was until their mentor, L.Joe, sent them to bed because of the next day’s trainings.

Luhan and Kyungsoo ate breakfast and went down to the Training Center. They split apart to view the different stations available.

Luhan was at the fire starting station with a boy from District 8 named Minseok.

“I saw your outfits for the Opening Ceremonies; I think that they were pretty cool.”

“Thanks I thought that your agricultural look was pretty cool too.”

Luhan soon bid farewell to Minseok because he had to move on to another station.

Luhan saw tridents and knives at a throwing station and he wanted to practice trident throwing, something he was very skilled at. But he knew he should refrain from showing off too many of his talents or else he would become a target. Luhan decided to hit the climbing station. He’s had a fear of heights all his life and he knows if the terrain is high, he’s screwed. The instructor tells him the basic rules of climbing and they start off with things found in nature that could act as a helper that would prevent Luhan from falling to his immediate death. The instructor notices that Luhan is hesitant on starting to climb and tells him it’s okay to be afraid of heights. Luhan of course, knows this and he should embrace his fears, not run away from them.

He tried to do it in the past and it didn’t work out as well as expected. He and Taeyeon were playing in the ocean on a rather beautiful day. Their mother was fishing the catches of the day and let them play with the other kids, forcing them to not worry and just have fun. There were nearby cliffs that kids were jumping off from and plunging themselves into the ocean. Taeyeon immediately went to go try. Her curiosity and wits drew her. Luhan saw Taeyeon climb up the rocked ledge to get to the top and he immediately withdrew, it was too high. One of the bullies however, noticed, and immediately reprimanded him. “Lulu’s scared of heights!” Luhan did not like being called Lulu as if it were an offensive name. That bully in particular loved to pick on Luhan. Making fun of his name, which Luhan was extremely proud of, it meant Deer of Dawn. Taeyeon would always yell at the bullies, but this time, she was focused on climbing. Luhan sighed and gave in, snapping back that he wasn’t afraid and begun climbing as well. This of course just had to end horribly and Luhan fell back into the water, everyone laughing at him and he earned the nickname of “Clumsy Lulu.” He told everyone because the rocks were slippery but no, he was very, very scared and slipped off.

Luhan looked down from his position on the ersatz rock wall. He knew there were little mats waiting for him if he were to fall. But then if he fell off, what kind of Career is he? He would be reprimanded by them and probably one of the first tributes to ever be kicked out of the Career pack before the games even started. How lame. He could imagine President Snow shaking his head before firing his potential cannon as in, how much more lame could this kid get? Porcelain skin, frail looking body, fetus face? Luhan might as well have been the girl tribute this year, the Capitol would never have noticed the difference unless one of them found him stark . Luhan knows he and Kyungsoo are probably the lamest looking tributes in the Career pack, they look far too frail. But Luhan knows how deadly he is. Heck while playing soccer, he accidently kicked a guy in the neck! Right on the freaking Adam’s apple! Not that is something to gloat about, but the guy was choking for a fair amount of time. Kyungsoo was deadly…In the kitchen. He made a mean steamed fish. If the games went down to skills of cooking, Kyungsoo would be wearing the crown and flouncing around under the Capitol’s spotlight while the rest of the tributes rotted away.

Luhan realized he was at the top of the rock wall and he could hear the instructor telling him to come down. But there was a small minute problem. Luhan doesn’t know how to come down. It may sound a bit stupid but he never volunteers to climb trees or anything intense like that. In fact the only trees in District 4 seem to be palm trees that bordered the coastline.

“I-I,” Luhan chokes. He looks behind him. Doesn’t look too far down? In reality it’s about a ten foot drop. But to Luhan it’s jumping down into another reality. “Heck with it.” Luhan jumps down and lands on his feet nimbly. Everyone looks at him like he was attempting suicide. Luhan just figures since he’s really flexible he can jump like that. There are mats after all.

Kyungsoo doesn’t really know what to do. There is no cooking station and he doesn’t need to go to the tying knots station or the edible plants station or the fish hooks because he already knows everything to know about that. He knows this for a legit fact because he spent five minutes at the tying knots station and he finishes every knot he sees in the book. He skeptically goes over to target practice. He’s not the best with a trident so he hesitantly picks up a bow. Kyungsoo knows he needs to be able to fight if he wants to at least survive a day in the games. He mentally kicks himself for not studying bows better but he never thought he was actually going to need information about them so he’s only read three books on bows, the proportions, how to use them, and the history (only). Kyungsoo adjusts the bow’s upper draw weight adjustment bolt to the right position for him and picks up an arrow and nocks it into place. He aims for the target. Surprisingly he actually hits dead center. Dumb sheer luck.

“That was sick!” Kyungsoo turns and sees a tall boy with brown locks and a killer smile grinning down at him.

“Thanks.” Kyungsoo nocks another arrow and tries again. He positions himself and can you believe it? It hit exactly in the center. “Is this rigged?” He questions aloud.

“No. Why?” The boy asks, giving him a weird gaze.

“I’m just not the athletic type.” Kyungsoo nocks yet another arrow and it hits dead center again. “Maybe reading really pays off.”

“Oh you’re one of those book-smart kids huh?” The boy fires an arrow but it hits the wall instead of the target. “I at archery.”

“I’m not saying I’m an expert but your stance is wrong.”

The boy tried again and this time the arrow at least hits the target. “Thanks. The name’s Jongin.”

“Kyungsoo, nice to meet you.” It’s not really nice to meet people.

“You’re from District 4 right?” Jongin asks.

“Yep, fishing” Kyungsoo replies.

“Great, District 1.” Jongin extends a hand and Kyungsoo shakes it.

Kyungsoo sees how relaxed Jongin is and how chill he acts, definitely different than the other District 1 tribute that’s all stiff and cold and unapproachable. To be completely honest the District 1 tributes aren’t like their district at all, not flashy or flouncing. But there is one similarity; they are both very good looking in what the Capitol considers “yummy”. Not that Kyungsoo is jealous or anything, he himself thinks he’s ugly and knows that brains are the only category in life that you need. “You don’t seem like you’re from District 1.” He says bluntly. He hopes that Jongin isn’t offended but this is very true.

 But Jongin just laughs, “I get that a lot. I’m not that into glitter and all that flashy stuff. Neither is Sehun, the other guy from 1, or so he claims. We’ve been buds since toddler days and I remember stumbling upon a jar filled with glitter in his room.”

Kyungsoo’s heart pangs with jealousy and sympathy. He’s never really had anyone to love, or left to love. His parents were lost at sea due to a freak boating accident and lost their lives to the ocean.  He just bears with it and studies hard in order to achieve greatness. Kyungsoo thought if he wasn’t sent to intimate death, he would’ve become the accountant of one of the leading fishing companies in 4 or he’d achieve that childhood dream of writing an encyclopedia on all the fish in the ocean. (After that he would write one on all the land animals and then shove it all together) Kyungsoo even had a title; it was to be called, The Kyungsoo Encyclopedia. It would have four volumes, on aquatic animals, land animals, plants, and one on cooking, but that one was to be a cookbook that was part of his volumes. It was a masterful idea that he had spent weeks brainstorming. When he wasn’t in school he was writing, reading, and studying, just to make sure his future was set. But now it seems nobody would ever read his works because he wouldn’t be able to publish them. What a waste of a good ten years of his life.

Kyungsoo feels bad for Jongin because he would be losing Sehun, and they had apparently been close since their “toddler days”.

“Hey what’s going on over there?” Jongin is pointing at some scuffle in the corner because from his view he can’t see what’s happening.

“I don’t know some stupid kids are fighting.” Kyungsoo sighs, “Pretty dumb because we have enough of that already…” But his voice trails off to see its Luhan and that Sehun from District 1.

Jongin notices this and runs over with Kyungsoo; the other tributes are watching them curiously.

“I’m telling you! I didn’t purposely aim a trident at you!” Luhan cries, his voice rather impatient.

Sehun frowns, showing some emotion, “It was about to cut off my neck.”

“Why would I throw it at you? I don’t even know you! You were in my way.” Luhan defends.

“Oh so it’s my fault that a trident came whizzing too close to my neck?” Sehun frowns yet again, sizing up to Luhan, he’s taller and he knows he can make the boy cower in fear because of his height.

Luhan sees this as a challenge and scrunches up his nose, “I’m your hyung, show some respect!”

“How can I use formalities in life or death situations?”

“Hey guys let’s just chill out okay?” A tall boy with short black hair says and tries to separate the two feuding boys.

A shorter boy with slightly purple hair grabs his shirt and pulls him back, “Chanyeol stop being a hippie.”

“Rude!” Chanyeol exclaims slapping the boy’s hand away. “Why can’t we have peace?”

“Do you not know where we are? We’re in the Hunger Games. The freaking Hunger Games.” The petite boy scowls as he sulks away.

“Nooo were at the beach!” Chanyeol calls after the boy, his voice laced with sarcasm.

The boy turns around and yells, “Stop it with that sarcasm!”

Chanyeol ignores this and turns back to Sehun and Luhan who are still bickering.

“I don’t care if you’re 18 okay? That just means you’ll die earlier.” Sehun rolls his eyes.

“We’re all going to die anyways!” Luhan shrieks. The other tributes eye him curiously.

“Sehun, jeez man can you stop and leave him alone? He’s on our team.” Jongin says pulling Sehun away.

“NOO” Sehun exclaims, his eyes widening in shock, “He is not.”

“Yes, he’s from District 4 like me.” Kyungsoo interjects quietly.

“Dang it.” Luhan mumbles.

“What? Can’t handle all this cool at once?” Sehun asks.

“No I can’t believe I’m allies with such a lame person.”

“That tears it.” Sehun picks up an awl and s it at Luhan.

“Whoa there!” Chanyeol is suddenly in between them and gripping Sehun’s wrist. “Let’s save it for the arena!”

“Whatever…” Sehun stalks away and Jongin sends them all an apologetic look as he rushes away to chase after the boy.

“Well that was certainly interesting.” Kyungsoo announces.

First Chapter is out!

Please give me any comments or whatevers about the story and sub!

I would GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.

Like seriously.

I'll make this thing funny just wait for my awkwardness to kick in like alcohol (JK DO NOT DRINK IT IS NOT GOOD FO YOU)

But right now Chanyeol's a hippie and Sehun and Luhan hate eachother.

Oh man I killed Taeyeon. Sorry unnie!

Anyways

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