Looking After His Boy

Summary: Follows Below The Surface. Their luck has run out, as Sejanus starts having nightmares about those he killed in the arena. Coriolanus needs to act, or he'll lose his boy to the darkness Gaul brought out to him

Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers for the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; references to violence and character death; AU

Pairing: Coriolanus Snow/Lucy Gray Baird/Sejanus Plinth

Author's Note: I just finished reading Sunrise on the Reaping, and it made me want to revisit the series.

It's probably worth saying that, in this fan fiction series, Snow did not become President and instead took Sejanus and Lucy Gray to Disctrict 13, where he's now a part of the rebellion.

I do have an idea for Sunrise on the Reaping, but...we'll see if that gets written.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've revisited this fandom and these characters. I hope you enjoy this fic!

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Coriolanus woke to the sound of whimpering...half-stifled cries...from next to him.

It was the middle of the night, and almost too dark to make out any details. Almost. But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the hut, Coriolanus could make out Sejanus...twisting from side to side, his cries growing louder.

"Sejanus." Coriolanus carefully shifted and ran his fingers through the other's hair. "Wake up," he whispered. "You're dreaming..."

Sejanus' eyes flew open, but instead of looking relieved or happy to see Coriolanus, his eyes filled with tears, and he flinched back. "I'm sorry." The tears weren't falling, but his eyes were obviously shimmering in the moonlight that came through the window.

Coriolanus slowly dropped his hand, looking worriedly at his lover. Sejanus pulling away from him wasn't something he was used to, and even though it seemed to have been triggered by the nightmare he'd just had, the reaction hurt Coriolanus more than it should have done.

On his other side, Lucy Gray stirred slightly and he felt her press against his shoulder. "Coriolanus?" Her sleepy voice sharpened slightly as she focused on Sejanus. "Sejanus? What's wrong, love?" She reached out and wrapped her arms around Sejanus.

He didn't pull away from her and Coriolanus felt another stab of hurt that Sejanus had flinched away from him. He pushed away that pain, instead focusing more on the reason why Sejanus had pulled away, instead of the fact his lover had.

"I'm sorry," Sejanus whispered again, his voice miserable.

"What are you sorry for, love?" Lucy Gray prompted gently.

Sejanus' tear-filled eyes raised to Coriolanus' face and he swallowed hard. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

Coriolanus' first instinct was to brush off Sejanus' apology as a byproduct of his nightmare. However, looking into his lover's eyes...studying Sejanus' face in the moonlight...he could see the anguish barely below the surface. "When did you hurt me?" he asked, trying to get an idea of what his lover's state of mind was right now.

"In the arena..."

Lucy Gray inhaled sharply, though she didn't say anything.

Coriolanus took a deep breath and then reached out, taking Sejanus' hand in his own. He'd been hoping they wouldn't have to deal with Sejanus remembering what he'd done in the arena, but as he replayed Doctor Gaul's words in his mind, he realised that he shouldn't have been so optimistic. She'd known that he would eventually remember; that was the whole point of what she'd done to him, to make him horrified and guilty over what she'd turned him into.

Sejanus was crying audibly now, the tears running down his face. He clung to Coriolanus' hand like it was a lifeline, whispering out apologies in a tiny, horrified, guilt-filled tone.

As much as Coriolanus had learned to hate Doctor Gaul, he couldn't deny that she'd planned this well. She knew what would hurt Sejanus the most; what would break him. And if Coriolanus didn't act, he'd lose Sejanus as surely as if he'd left him in the arena to inevitably die.

It only took a few minute adjustments to change his position, to sit with his back against the wall so that he was supported and, more importantly, so that Sejanus would be supported. Then Coriolanus used his grip on Sejanus' hand to pull his lover across his lap, ensuring that Sejanus' upper body was supported and that his bottom was positioned perfectly, slightly raised over Coriolanus' thigh.

"Coryo..."

Coriolanus looked up at Lucy Gray, who was watching him and Sejanus with a worried look on her face. She caught Coriolanus' gaze and raised her eyebrows, mouthing, Are you sure about this?

Coriolanus rested his hand on Sejanus' bare bottom. None of them wore sleep clothes, so he didn't have any layers to remove. And he wasn't really worried about this turning into something sexual; not with Sejanus' mind in the state it was.

"It's needed." The words slipped out of Coriolanus' lips before he thought about putting voice to what was in his mind. "It's necessary," he added. "Otherwise we'll lose him."

Sejanus didn't move from where Coriolanus had placed him. He didn't protest and he didn't struggle. Instead, his sobs increased slightly in force and he whispered again, "I'm sorry."

Lucy Gray's eyes softened, and she nodded to Coriolanus, then moved round so that she was seated on the bed in front of Sejanus. Reaching out, she clasped his hands, holding them in a firm grip. "I'm here, love," she whispered.

A choked sob was the only response Sejanus gave, though he at least didn't try to pull his hands free of hers.

Coriolanus let his hand rub gently over Sejanus' bare backside. He rubbed until he felt the other man relax a fraction, then lifted his hand and brought it down in a firm smack...aiming to sting rather than be truly punishing.

Sejanus' breath hitched slightly, although he didn't react apart from that.

Coriolanus settled quickly into a rhythm of swats, working his way over every inch of Sejanus' backside, from the crest down to mid-thigh. When Sejanus began to shift and squirm in reaction to the smacks, Coriolanus simply wrapped his arm around his lover's waist and began another circuit of swats, paying attention to skin that was already growing pink and sensitive.

"Coryo!" Sejanus' breath hitched as Coriolanus' hand descended on a particularly sensitive spot. His legs jerked as a sob escaped him.

Coriolanus paused, resting his hand on Sejanus' bottom and beginning to rub the warm skin. "Are you ready to listen to me?"

"What?" Sejanus sounded confused. "We're not talking..."

"You've been apologising since you woke up. Not telling me why until Lucy Gray asked you." Coriolanus rubbed for a few more moments, then resumed swatting, his other arm wrapping tighter around Sejanus' waist.

"Because I am sorry!" Sejanus replied.

"You don't need to be sorry, Sejanus," Coriolanus said firmly. "Not for what you did when you were in the arena. That wasn't you. And the things you did do? We dealt with those. I punished you for that."

"I hurt you..." Sejanus sobbed.

"That wasn't you," Coriolanus stated firmly. He paused the spanking again, rubbing Sejanus' backside once more. By this point, the other man's bottom was a deep pink, bordering on red in places.

He hoped he was making the right choice here. He truly didn't believe that Sejanus deserved to be punished for what he'd done when twisted by Doctor Gaul's serum. But looking at Sejanus' face...listening to his lover's words...he was worried. No, more than that...he was frightened. Frightened that he would lose Sejanus because the man he loved couldn't handle the darkness that Doctor Gaul had forced to come out.

Lucy Gray had been silent through the spanking and while Coriolanus spoke. Now, she leaned down and kissed Sejanus' damp cheeks, squeezing his hands gently. "You don't need to carry this guilt with you, love," she whispered.

"I'm a monster..." Sejanus sobbed.

"No," she said firmly. "You were forced to act against your nature. Forced to kill. But Gaul had to infect you to make you do that. Because she knew you would never have done it as yourself. You would have died, rather than hurt anyone else."

"What if...?" Sejanus sniffled, another sob tearing from him, as he finally whispered, "What if...it was still me? What if her serum...just brought out the monster that was always inside me?" His voice dropped to a low, tormented whisper.

"No, love," Lucy Gray said firmly. "That serum didn't bring out something that was already there." She looked up at Coriolanus. "Right?"

"How can you be so sure?" Sejanus whispered.

"Sejanus...you're crying and feeling guilty and apologising," Coriolanus said, still gently rubbing his bottom...feeling the heat coming from the skin and trying to soothe it, even if only a little. "If what she did to you brought out what was already there, you wouldn't be feeling so guilty now."

Sejanus sniffled quietly, his hands tightening around Lucy Gray's. "I am sorry," he whispered, his tears audible.

Coriolanus closed his eyes. "I know." He continued to rub Sejanus' bottom, his other hand gently rubbing over Sejanus' back. "But the only thing you need to be sorry for is for the actions you had control over. And we dealt with those. We dealt with you disobeying me and sneaking out." He'd punished Sejanus severely for that, after all...perhaps too severely, although the worst thing he'd done had been to leave...run away from his own pain and emotions.

He pushed aside that memory. It had been one mistake that he'd made since forming this relationship with Sejanus and Lucy Gray, and it was a mistake he was determined not to repeat.

"I killed..." Sejanus' voice broke.

"So did I," Lucy Gray whispered. "In the arena."

"I did as well," Coriolanus murmured. "Does that change us, Sejanus? Does that make us bad people, like you think you are?"

"N...no." Sejanus' response sounded unwilling, but he still answered honestly.

"Then give yourself the same consideration, love." Lucy Gray leaned in and kissed Sejanus. "When your mind was returned to you, you insisted on saving two of the tributes. That is who you truly are, deep inside. Not the monster that Gaul turned you into."

Coriolanus felt the way Sejanus slumped over his lap, his body growing limp...finally surrendering. Hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with this again, he moved his lover so that Sejanus was sitting on his lap instead of draped over it. He wrapped his arms around Sejanus and just held on, kissing his head and whispering, "I've got you."

Sejanus' breath hitched and his arms wrapped around Coriolanus, holding on tightly. "I'm sorry..." He must have felt the way Coriolanus' body stiffened, because he quickly hurried to say, "Not for killing or...or for hurting you. But for making it necessary for you to help me in this way."

Coriolanus clasped the side of Sejanus' face, allowing his fingers to travel downwards until they grazed his chin. He then raised Sejanus' head and pressed his lips against his lover's. "You are mine," he whispered, low and intense, against Sejanus' lips. He let his lips travel along Sejanus' jawline, nipping along the skin, until he reached his lover's throat. Then, he began to suck and gently bite the skin.

Sejanus shuddered, raising his hands to grip onto Coriolanus' shoulders as a tiny, whimpering moan escaped his lips. "Yours," he whispered.

Lucy Gray shifted into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around Sejanus and Coriolanus, pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks. "I love you both," she whispered.

Coriolanus turned his head enough to catch Lucy Gray's lips with his own, then leaned in and kissed Sejanus deeply. "I love you...so much," he said to both of them.

Sejanus shifted slightly and took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and pressed closer to both Coriolanus and Lucy Gray. "Thank you," he whispered, his voice hoarse and filled with emotion.

Coriolanus just clasped Sejanus' face in his hand and leaned in, pressing a deep kiss to his lips, then doing the same to Lucy Gray. "It's still the middle of the night," he murmured. "We should go back to sleep...we can get up early and maybe all do something together?" he suggested.

"That sounds perfect, love." Lucy Gray nestled in next to Coriolanus and reached across him to take hold of Sejanus' hand. "Sleep now," she whispered. "Things will be better in the morning."

Coriolanus settled down on the bed once more, wrapping an arm each around his mates. He pressed a kiss to each of their heads and closed his eyes, listening as their breathing evened out into sleep.

Finally, he could let himself relax and sleep.

The End