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today was a fairytale - one

ever since they were kids, lucy gray baird and coriolanus snow have absolutely hated each other. it's all they have ever known. but senior year hits, and everything changes. after a horrible and very public breakup with her ex, lucy gray thought she was finally done dealing with arrogant men. fate decided to play a few tricks on her by suddenly making coriolanus snow have a big fat crush on lucy gray.

featuring: debate kid coryo x band/choir kid lucy gray, childhood rivals to lovers, lots of taylor swift references/vibes, ooc characters, soft coryo,

word count: 3.4k

warnings: swearing, cheating, billy taupe being an asshole, implied toxic relationships

taglist: @kolsmikaelson @coryobaird @avocadopillz @mythioss @underscorebrady

read on ao3

“Had an absolute blast singing for all y’all lovely folks! Thank you to everyone for being such a lovely crowd tonight, I hope to sing again for y’all soon! Enjoy the game!”

Everyone in the bleachers erupted into hoots and hollers as Lucy Gray gave them a twirl and a bow. Even the opposing school playing against their school, Panem High, was clapping right alongside them. Lucy Gray has always had that sort of charm to her.

She spotted Jessup and Coral in the bleachers waving her over, both adorning wide smiles on their faces as they watched their friend make her way towards them. Lucy Gray had to stop a few times though as many of her classmates either gave her a high five or told her she did an amazing job singing the national anthem. When Lucy Gray finally reached where her friends were sitting, she was immediately engulfed by her friends.

“Lucy Gray, you truly outdid yourself! You were amazing, as usual!”

“I'm not even exaggerating when I say this, but I almost teared up at how angelic your voice is. I wish I could sing as well as you, Lucy Gray.”

“We’re so proud of you, we love you so much.”

“I love you more than Jessup though–wait did you see Cori-”

Lucy Gray starts to wheeze as her friends are crushing her with their arms. Jessup notices immediately and lets Lucy Gray free, while Coral squeezes Lucy Gray for a second or two until she finally lets her go.

“Oh god, I’m sorry!” Jessup says, looking at her with apologetic eyes. “We’re just so happy for you.”

“We didn't mean to go overboard,” Coral says sheepishly and scratches the back of her head. “Whoops!”

Lucy Gray just smiled in return. “No need to worry darlings! I'm not made out of sugar, let's sit down now before we block anyone's view since the game is about to start.”

It was September 18th on a Friday night. 7 pm. The Hunger Games (more boringly known as a football game) are about to start anytime soon. It was the first game of the year and everyone was buzzing with excitement. Even Lucy Gray, who doesn't consider herself to be the biggest sports fan, was eager for the game to start. Lucy Gray attended every football game last year, not because she wanted to but because her boyfriend Billy Taupe plays on the team.

Sometimes, she thinks Jessup knows exactly what Lucy Gray is thinking. “Is Billy Taupe playing tonight, Lucy Gray?” Jessup asks, chewing on some overpriced chips he got from the concession stand. “Or is he the seat warmer again?”

Coral laughs manically while Lucy Gray just sighs. “....seat warmer.” God, she should feel embarrassed for Billy Taupe, but frankly, she doesn't care about him in the slightest anymore.

“Speaking of Billy Taupe, you're breaking up with him after the game right?” Coral questioned. Oh no, Lucy Gray does not like where this conversation is heading to.

“Well yeah, of course she will. She's been meaning to do it ever since she found out he was a lying, cheating, piece of shit. Right?”

Lucy Gray doesn't say anything.

“Right?” Jessup pressed further, his eyes widening at each second that passed without Lucy Gray speaking.

Lucy Gray again doesn't say anything.

Coral looked like she was about to strangle Lucy Gray right then and there. Coral grabs her shoulders to make Lucy Gray look at her, who just gives her a sheepish grin. “Lucy Gray Baird. Are you out of your fucking mind?” Oh no. Not the full name.

“You said you were going to dump his ass tonight. You also said that a week ago and the week before that. How long are you planning to stay with this asshole?” Coral continues, not minding how crazy she looks right now. “Tell us Lucy Gray.”

Lucy Gray gulps, there's no way out of this conversation. Might as well be honest. “ I do wanna break up with him, but just not tonight.”

If Coral was mad before, she was enraged now. “What? Why?”

“Hear me out,” Lucy Gray states, waving her hands around. “Look I really wanna break up with him, trust me I do! But tonight is not a good night. It's his first game of the year and things can only go two ways. One, we win. Two, we lose. Both are very bad.’’

It was Jessup's turn to interrogate Lucy Gray now. “And that's stopping you because..?”

Lucy Gray sighs. “Because if we lose, Billy Taupe will be in a horrible mood, and breaking up with him right after would just be so mean of me. If we win, Billy Taupe will be ecstatic, and again breaking up with him would just be wrong of me. Billy Taupe is an awful person, don't get me wrong, but I refuse to become as awful as him.”

Coral was about two seconds from slapping Lucy Gray silly until Jessup placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Quiet down Coral and leave her alone! The Hunger Games are about to start.”

It was Coral's turn to sigh. She let her go and Lucy Gray immediately could breathe again. “Ugh, fine. But I swear if you don't break up with Billy Taupe soon, I'll do it for you.”

“Noted.” Lucy Gray whispers back, directing her full attention towards the game.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure you have an admirer already.”

“What?!”

“I said, I’m pretty sure you have an admirer already,” Coral whisper yells in Lucy Gray's ear. Lucy Gray tried not to sucker punch her.

“I heard you the first time, Coral. But what?”

“Yup, if my hunches are correct, which they always are, someone else will be rooting for your eventual breakup.”

At this point, Lucy Gray didn't even care about the game anymore. She tried getting Coral's attention again and again, but the latter was too interested in the game. Lucy Gray had to punch her shoulder to get her attention.

“Ow, what the fuc-?”

“Who the hell has a crush on me Coral?” Lucy Gray interrupts, exasperated. Coral looks at her and smirks.

“So that's what this is all abo-”

“Fucking tell me Coral before I push you down these bleachers.” Lucy Gray has had enough!

“Oh my god, fine. I think it’s that blonde, blue-eyed freak that's in all of those loser clubs. Cornelius or something.” Coral says and starts watching the game again. So far, Panem High was winning.

“Coriolanus? Coriolanus Snow?” Lucy Gray shrieked. Out of every single person in Panem High that could possibly fancy her, Coriolanus didn't even make the goddamn list.

“If you're talking about the same bloke who is in the debate team, student council, speech, and Model UN, then yes him. He was watching you with heart eyes when you were singing the national anthem.” Coral announced as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“He’s here tonight?” Lucy Gray asked but received no answer from Coral. The Panem High side of the bleachers cheered as they once again got a goal. Lucy Gray scanned her eyes across the crowd until her eyes landed on a familiar head of blonde curls.

Of course, Coriolanus Snow, the bane of her existence was here. Coriolanus was here because Sejanus, his best friend, was here to support his friend Marcus, who was on the football team. Of fucking course he would be here. Plus, unfortunately knowing him, Coriolanus was definitely here to convince people to vote for him as Class President.

Lucy Gray and Coriolanus had always had some sort of unspoken rivalry between the two of them. It started when they were in elementary school when Coriolanus said something about her, yes they have been rivals for that long. Lucy Gray doesn't even remember what he had said, but she does remember that Lucy Gray spent the whole day crying at school. Ever since then, Lucy Gray hated Coriolanus.

It was petty, she will admit, to hate someone for something that happened 10 years ago. But what was even more petty was the fact that Coriolanus only hates Lucy Gray because she hates him. Since he discovered her hatred for him, Coriolanus made it his job to make sure Lucy Gray's life was hell.

Panem High isn't exactly known for being the wealthiest school in Panem, after all, it is a public school. Because of that, the school has a limited budget, a budget that Lucy Gray intends to take full advantage of for funding her extracurricular activities: band, choir, and musical theatre.

Unfortunately, Coriolanus has the same idea as her.

While Lucy Gray advocates for funding the art clubs, Coriolanus advocates for funding the academic clubs. Naturally, the two of them don't get along quite the best.

Lucy Gray watches Coriolanus clap alongside Sejanus as yet again Panem High scores another goal. Damn, they were bad. Even Billy Taupe, arguably the worst football player in the history of Panem High could probably kick their asses.

After an hour or two, the game has finally ended. Panem High won the first official Hunger Games with a score of 3-0. Jessup and Coral cheered, Sejanus was screaming Marcus’ name at the top of his lungs. Even Coriolanus was smiling. Lucy Gray found herself smiling too until she saw a couple kissing on the field. Suddenly she realizes that Panem High won and that she should be congratulating Billy Taupe too. Even though he didn't play, Lucy Gray didn't want Billy Taupe to think something was wrong with their relationship.

“Excuse me y’all, I’ll be back.” Before her friends could ask her where she was going, Lucy Gray ran down the bleachers in search of her boyfriend. She shoves past a few people, muttering apologies. After a while of searching, she spots Billy Taupe talking to a few of his teammates.

“Oh Billy Taupe, your girl’s coming this way.” One of his teammates said, pointing towards Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray quickly plasters on the biggest, yet fakest smile she could.

“Congratulations on winning Billy Taupe! I’m so-” Lucy Gray couldn't finish her sentence as someone violently shoved past her, causing her to stumble and almost fall to the ground. Good grief, people really need to watch where they are going! Lucy Gray regained her footing and tried making her way to Billy Taupe again but stopped dead in her tracks.

Lucy Gray couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing.

Billy Taupe Claude was kissing Mayfair Lipp, the girl he cheated on Lucy Gray with, right in front of the whole fucking school.

He smiles against Mayfair's lips and kisses her once more. “Sweetheart, you can't keep on kissing me in public. What if she sees?”

Mayfair giggles and wraps her arms around Billy Taupe's neck, kissing him on the cheek. “Sorry! Can’t help myself, you just look so handsome like this.”

Billy Taupe leans in to kiss Mayfair again but stops when his eyes land on Lucy Gray's shaky figure. He instantly untangled himself from Mayfair and headed towards Lucy Gray.

‘This isn't what it seems like Lucy-” Billy Taupe was interrupted by Lucy Gray's palm striking his cheek, the very same cheek Mayfair kissed a few moments ago.

“Fuck you Billy Taupe. We’re over.” Lucy Gray spat. By the time it took Billy Taupe to react, Lucy Gray was long gone from the field.

Lucy Gray stormed off towards the bus stop near Panem High’s parking lot, hot tears running down her cheeks. How horrid could someone possibly be? She already knew that Billy Taupe was cheating scum, but to kiss another girl in public when you haven't even broken up with your girlfriend? That's another level of low.

And Mayfair Lipp, Lucy Gray had given her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't know about Billy Taupe and Lucy Gray. But after the events that transpired tonight, Mayfair knew about them and was even alright with it. How could you do that to someone, especially another girl?

Lucy Gray took her phone out of her pocket to check when the next bus was coming, since she doesn't have a car of her own yet. She clicked the button on the side to unlock her phone. Nothing. She clicked on it again. Nothing. Lucy Gray nearly threw her phone across the parking lot in anger, frustration, and sadness.

Her phone is dead. She doesn't have a ride back home. Her feet were sore from all the walking, she didn't want to walk all the way back. Jessup and Coral were probably worried out of their damn minds because of what happened. Lucy Gray's parents aren't home, so she couldn't even use the pay phone near her to call them to pick her up. Lucy Gray could call her friends with the pay phone, but she doesn't trust herself enough to walk without falling.

As soon as Lucy Gray sat on the curb, she immediately burst into tears. The only thing you could hear in the parking lot was the sound of Lucy Gray’s sobs. The stars watched as Lucy Gray broke down. Everyone who was returning from the football field to go home ignored the sobbing girl.

All except one.

“Is that you, Lucy Gray?”

Lucy Gray looks behind her to see no other than Coriolanus Snow, who looks absolutely bewildered to have caught her in such a state.

One thing that drives Lucy Gray absolutely mad is how well-put Coriolanus always looks compared to her. Right now was no different. Coriolanus was wearing a gray Ralph Lauren sweater with a white shirt underneath. His black dress pants had little to no wrinkles in them and his white shoes had not a single speck of dirt on them. Blonde curls were neatly combed and his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

“It is you, why are you sitting all alone in the dark?” Coriolanus asks. He didn't have that stupid smug look on his face that he always has and that just pisses Lucy Gray off for some reason.

“Can’t a girl cry all alone in the dark in peace?’ huffed Lucy Gray. She was in no mood to deal with another arrogant man in the span of two hours, thank you very much!

“Unless you want to get run over, then no.” Coriolanus retorts back, rolling his eyes. He took advantage of Lucy Gray's silence and continued speaking. “You really did cause a scene back there, Lucy Gray. Everyone was and still is talking about it.”

Oh, that just pissed Lucy Gray off even more.

“Did you really just come here to gloat, Coriolanus? I know you're an asshole, but I didn't think you would want to watch me break down.” Lucy Gray was fuming. What the hell did she do in her past life to deserve all this?

Coriolanus rolls his eyes again. “For your information, I came here for my car to drive home.” He pointed towards the car in front of Lucy Gray. Oh yeah, that is Coriolanus' car. “Mind if I sit?”

“Yes.”

Coriolanus ignored her and sat next to her on the curb. He also ignored Lucy Gray scooching herself as far as she could away from him. “The sky looks nice tonight.” He noted.

Lucy Gray looks up. He was right, the sky does look rather nice tonight. “Yeah, it does. The stars watched me break down though, so not as nice.”

Coriolanus chuckles. “I wasn't trying to sound like an asshole by the way. I was just stating the truth.”

“Yeah well, whatever comes out of your mouth makes you sound like an asshole.”

“Really, how?”

Lucy Gray just sighs. “You naturally sound like an entitled jerk every time you speak, to be honest. I think it's just your prissy ass voice.”

“Would rather sound like a priss than a hillbilly.” Lucy Gray smacks Coriolanus’ shoulder, who doesn't even move in the slightest. When did his shoulders get so broad?

“Are you just trying to piss me off Coriolanus?”

“If it makes you stop crying, then sure,” Coriolanus admitted casually.

Lucy Gray will never say this out loud, but the back-and-forth banter with Coriolanus was actually calming her down. It was the only thing that Lucy Gray was certain would never change between the two of them. And for some odd reason, she likes it.

“Why are you really here, Coriolanus? And don't say you’re here for your car, you could have left a long time ago but you're still here sitting with me.” Lucy Gray added hastily when she saw Coriolanus open his mouth.

Coriolanus just blinks dumbly. He opened his mouth again and then quickly closed it again. Lucy Gray resisted the urge to laugh at how fucking ridiculous he looks right now. It’s not every day you catch the Coriolanus Snow off guard.

The blonde runs his fingers through his curls, sighing. “Fuck, speech taught me everything except how to properly talk to a girl whos crying her eyes out.”

Coriolanus takes note of Lucy Gray’s confused face and starts to explain himself. “I mean, I did come here for my car, I’m not lying about that. I didn't expect to see you here crying all alone. And yeah, I'm an asshole to you but I'm not that much of an asshole to leave you here all alone in the dark. I just wanted to check up on you after what happened between you and Billy Taupe. Good job slapping him by the way, he deserved it.

Lucy Gray starts to cry again, this time a bit more violently. She clasps her hand over her mouth and hunches over, sobbing. Oh god, Lucy Gray really was a horrible person. As always, she assumed the worst from Coriolanus who genuinely just wanted to check up on her. Why was Coriolanus nicer to her than Billy Taupe has ever been in their whole 8-month relationship? Why did Lucy Gray stay with him for so long?

Coriolanus starts to panic as he watches Lucy Gray shaking and sobbing. “Hey, hey, are you okay? Did I say something wrong? I'm so sorry Lucy Gray, I didn't mean to make you even more upset.”

Lucy Gray shakes her head weakly. “No, you didn't do anything wrong, I just, you just, I…” Lucy Gray trails off sniffling, almost breaking down again when she sees Coriolanus watching her with patient eyes. “I just want to go home, but my phone is dead, my parents aren't home, and I have no clue where Jessup and Coral are. I bet they're worried sick.”

Coriolanus nods understandingly. “I see. I can drive you home if you want. I don't think you live too far away from me.”

“No, it’s alright. You have already done enough.” Lucy Gray will just walk home, even though it might take her an hour to reach home.

“Can I at least get one of your friends to drive you home instead?” Coriolanus asks. “I have Jessup’s number, I can text him for you.”

Lucy Gray nods. “That’ll be perfect, thank you Coriolanus. For everything.”

He looks at Lucy Gray for a beat, like he wants to say something to her. Coriolanus sighs and reaches for his phone to shoot Jessup a text. As soon as Coriolanus hit “send” he immediately got a text from Jessup.

“Jessup and Coral are coming in 5 minutes.”

“Okay.”

The two of them sat in comfortable silence, Lucy Gray breaking it with a sniffle or two. Lucy Gray felt Coriolanus moving beside her. When she looked at him, he was holding out a handkerchief towards her and pointing towards his face.

“Your mascara, it's running.” Lucy Gray gave him a soft smile, Coriolanus was being awfully sweet tonight. She tried grabbing the handkerchief from him, but he shook his head. “Here, let me do it.”

Lucy Gray holds her breath while Coriolanus gently uses his handkerchief to wipe away her mascara and any stray tears left. It was an oddly intimate gesture by Coriolanus, Lucy Gray almost wanted to hold Coriolanus’ wrist but decided against it. She didn't want to shatter this already delicate moment.

“There,” Coriolanus whispers. “All better.”

Lucy Gray was about to say something back when she saw a familiar red truck coming towards the duo. Jessup and Coral. Lucy Gray swiftly stands up and bolts towards the truck, not before giving Coriolanus a warm smile.

“Goodnight Coriolanus.”

Coriolanus awkwardly waves back at her. “See you on Monday, Lucy Gray.”

bonus scene:

sejanus: did you finally confess to lucy gray coryo? her and billy taupe finally broke up woo!!

me: no

sejanus: BRO!!

sejanus: why didnt you? you had the perfect opportunity!!

me: because 1. i chickened out and 2. im not an asshat sejanus. why tf would i confess that i like her after she just broke up with her bf??

sejanus: ok true ig

sejanus: but you gotta confess soon, its senior year, and who knows if you two will ever see each other again

me: ur right

me: i'll tell her how i feel about her on monday. trust!

#SCREAMINF THIS IS SO CUTEEEEE #snowbaird #fandom.the ballad of songbirds and snakes #leea.rec #reblog.txt

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