Odi Et Amo | CORIOLANUS SNOW

17 | the presentation

WORD COUNT: 2683

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"YOU READY, TANWEN?" Coriolanus asked the moment Kyra took her seat beside him, his voice flat and detached.

"More than ready, Snow." Kyra replied in a similar tone, watching the other 'Toys to Gamemaking' students enter the lecture hall so that she could avoid looking at her own assignment partner. Each of their faces were plastered with nerves, some more so than others, but all Kyra could feel was relief. Relief that this stupid presentation, the one that had caused this domino effect of making her life hell, would finally be over. And once it was, she could go back to treating Snow like he didn't exist.

"You better be," Coriolanus mumbled, a hint of a threat in his quiet words, "I don't want my grade to suffer because of your under preparedness."

Kyra's head snapped towards Snow, glaring at his audacity. Surely he knew better than anyone how much this mattered to her, and why he would say such a thing to Kyra Tanwen of all people made no sense. Her blood boiled at his innocent expression, craving nothing more than to choke the arrogant ass.

"If our grade suffers, it's on you. I have done everything I can. You're the one who read my script, remember? I haven't even seen yours. So it is your responsibility to match what I've practised." Kyra fired back, hating how easily he crawled under her skin. Not just in her heart and her brain, but in her veins, her blood, her entire essence.

"I would've been more than fine with you reading my script! It was your choice not to practise with me, so if our scripts clash, that is not my fault." Coriolanus scoffed, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Not your fault?" Kyra hissed, slamming her hand on their desk and turning entirely towards him, the venom in her voice thick to hide the anguish underneath, "Who was the one that made this more complicated than it needed to be? Who was the one that couldn't simply keep things professional between us? Who was the one that fucked-"

"Miss Tanwen, Mister Snow." Dr Gaul's voice called out from the front, her deep voice authoritative and amused, as her sudden appearance commanded silence in the room that Coriolanus and Kyra hadn't noticed amidst their bickering, "Since you both are so eager to talk, why don't the pair of you come up here and present first?"

Kyra's voice seemed to disappear at the sudden attention, wondering how loud she had been, how much people had heard, how much Medea had heard. Her blood was still boiling, unable to even recall what she had memorised since the only thing in her mind was how much she despised Snow.

As she felt herself crumbling under the limelight, the threat of losing her breath growing, she suddenly felt a cold hand rest atop hers underneath the table, giving Kyra something she could touch and focus on.

"Of course, Dr Gaul." Coriolanus replied calmly, his hand giving hers a brief squeeze, grounding her back into the moment. He held on for no longer than she needed, letting go the instant her mind started to clear once more, and reminding her how much she loved Coriolanus.

Following him to the front, Kyra let the tension in her shoulders ease with every step, falling into the role of the confident academic her peers believed her to be. Her script slowly washed back into her mind, her lips subtly mouthing the words, as she headed to the monitor to bring up their presentation. Coriolanus stood proud on the other side of the board, completely at ease, as if made for talking in front of a crowd, and some of his confidence bled into Kyra.