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It started storming earlier in the day. Light rains that soon burst into lightning and thunder.
Pyro can feel it coiling in his bones and with each strike of lightning and each boom of thunder, he feels his heart jump in time. It's exciting to see something so truly wild that even the Capitol cannot control it.
The storm is untamed, it is wild, it is strong.
He steps out onto the balcony after nightfall. The wind is howling and he can’t hear anything besides his heartbeat.
He whispers into the storm. It's one of the most dangerous things he can say.
“I don’t approve of the games.”
He waits for ten minutes.
No Peacekeepers arrive, no extra mics or cameras popping up.
They can’t hear him, not over the storm.
“I don’t enjoy my job.”
He is not heard.
The wind is blowing away the fire, snuffing it out with its power. The icy water slashes into his face and it hurts, and it’s cold and he loves it.
No one can tell if he’s crying or not and it’s perfect.
And he can grieve.
He screams the name of every child that has passed him by. He screams the names of the children. He screams of the children he's sent to die. He sobs over the fact that he has never been allowed to grieve for the children he is made to connect with.
When he comes back in, he is soaked to the bone, and the glow of his heart warms him.
The others barely recognize him.
And when he comes back in, his hair in his face, soaking and shivering… his eyes don’t look like embers. They don’t glow with inhuman hellfire. They are just eyes. Normal, human eyes, above a normal, human smile that is a little shaky but real.
And he laughs. And it isn’t like the yipping of a fox or the crack of a fire. It’s a human laugh. And he doesn't move like he’s hiding something.
And he wipes his face dry like anyone else would, no dramatic flourishes. And’s he’s Niall. And they’ve never seen Niall before.
Josh has seen Pyro vulnerable and weak. But he has never seen Pyro been truly human .
This is Niall Comas, who is, deep down, still a scared 19-year-old. Still the kid that punched his friend so that he could die instead. This is a version of Pyro who is not scared of being truthful. This is a Pyro who isn’t afraid of weakness, because back then being human wasn’t a weakness. It was just life. And maybe he can never go back to before, but maybe he can eventually be okay with being human again.
He slouches as he walks, and there is no performance to his stance. He just *walks.*
He pulls out the teabags and the mugs. He puts the kettle on.
He makes some tea because that is what you do in District 9 after a storm. When you realize that you are safe and you comfort your crying siblings.
He pours the tea. And he's softly smiling, and slouching slightly, hair still damp and sticking out every which way, and it's strange. Because this isn’t perfect as Pyro always is, it’s messy.
He makes chamomile tea and puts honey in it.
The first cup goes to Josh. Then to Angel, Techno, Tommy, Minx, Wilbur, Vikk, Niki and then Michael.
To them it is nothing.
To him it is everything.
Chamomile is used to show feeling calm and content. Chamomile is used to show that you are safe.
He gives it to his floor because he feels calm with them.
He gives it to his floor because he feels safe with them.
Honey is added to show that he feels joy with them. And that his heart is sweet with love and care for them.
And for once in his life, he can show it without worrying about anyone watching. It's freeing.
The storm sings outside.
And his soul sings with it.