After Marvel made his promise I excused myself. I looked rough, my hair was frizzy, my makeup had run down my face, but I found myself making my way to the courtyard one last time.
As I walked out, I saw Cato. Sitting at our fountain. Still dressed up in his silver jacket, black dress shirt and pants.
When he sees me, his face lightens at the sight of me, but then fall to worry when he sees my state.
"Hey babe." I smile at him. "Room for one more?"
He smiles back. "Always room for you princess."
I sit down next to him, resting my head on his shoulder.
He doesn't say anything and neither do I for a while.
"Hey Cato?" I ask softly.
"Hm?" he returns.
"Did you mean it?"
A silence waves over us. He didn't answer the question. I found myself drifting off against his shoulder.
"Hey Athena?" he asked he softer.
"Hm?" I hum.
"I meant every word of it."
He kissed the top of my head.
Why was I letting this boy do this? I hated him! He was going to be my first and only kill in that arena! But, something about how handsome he looked in his suit tonight made me go soft for him. And the way he smiled at me when I came out here, but then immediately worried after he saw how I looked.
I slowly fell asleep next to him on the fountain. I was asleep outside, and when I woke up I was in my room. My makeup cleaned off my face. My dress hung up, and me in my pajamas. All the bobby pins and hair ties were no longer in my hair.
"Good morning Athena." Marvel smiled at me.
"Hey Marvel." I said, rubbing my eyes in confusion and tiredness.
"Late night?"
"I actually don't remember.
"Cato brought you home."
"Oh." my stomach fluttered.
"Yeah, cleaned off your makeup and took out your hair. Then he asked Cashmere at like 1 in the morning to help him get you changed."
A smile started to creep onto my face. He really did mean all of it.
"I also told him last night that you agreed to the alliance, assuming you didn't."
"Thank you."
"Good morning my lovely tributes." Velvet said through a forced smile.
"Good morning." me and Marvel said in sync.
"Are you ready for today?" she asked trying to make conversation, before dropping her smile and grabbing one of my hands and one of Marvel's hands.
"You two are some of the best tributes I've had the honor of escorting. One of you, please, come back alive." She said.
Gloss and Cashmere entered the room and noticed the tension.
Marvel left to go get changed when Gloss came over to me. He pulled me into a hug. The kind of a hug that parents give their kids when they go off to college.
"You are my greatest accomplishment, Athena." Gloss whispers.
I pulled away for a quick second. "Gloss, you won THE hunger games and I'm your greatest accomplishment?" I laugh.
He pulls me back into the hug.
I never knew my father. He was killed by peacekeepers when I was 2. It was always just me, mom, and Apollo. Apollo was kind of like a father figure, but not really. He was just the man of the house. He was always my brother. I never saw him as anything else.
Then, on at that day when I was eight. The day my mother dragged me to the training center and I properly met Gloss, everything changed. He was so kind to such a scared little me.
He practically raised me. I was in the training g center 5 days a week for 52 weeks a year. He saw me everyday. He watched me grow up.
"Thank you." I whisper.
"For what?" Gloss asks.
"For being the best father figure, trainer, mentor, friend, and person I could ever have met in this lifetime."
A single tear falls from Gloss's eyes. A warm smile plastered across his face.
"It's time to get you changed, we need to be out the door in 10 minutes!" Velvet interrupts.
I get changed into my clothes for the games. I wore gray-green cargo pants, a green t-shirt, brown boots, and a green thermal jacket.
Velvet took me and Marvel to "the launching pad" where we boarded the hovercraft. A lady placed my tracker in my arm, and the realization fully hit. I was about to enter the games.
We arrived to the arena after about 30 minutes. I was taken to the catacombs of the arena, and led to a room. Inside stood Tigris.
"Tigris!" I exclaim, running to her in a hug.
"My love," she started.
I pulled off of her and she looked at me.
"What's your biggest weapon?"
"My word."
"Good."
She steps toward me, putting my sword necklace back around my neck. She had to take it to give to the game makers, to make sure it was okay for the games as my district token.
"It's been my pleasure working with you, Athena."
"Thank you for everything Tigris." I smile. "Thank you for making beautiful."
"Oh love, you did that yourself." she smiled back.
An automated voice started counting down, and Tigris led me to the glass tube. I stepped inside and fear overtook my body.
In a minute, the games would have begun. And from then on, it's an ongoing battle.
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not my longest or my best chapter buttt i figured now that we might die we might as well accept that cato likes us
doesn't mean we don't still hate him
but we also kinda like him too
i tried wring an enemies to lovers, and i think im doing good 🤷🏼♀️ please let me know
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I Wanna Be Yours- Cato Hadley
Fanfiction"Hate to break it to you babe, but only one of us is coming out of this alive, and it's gonna be me." "In your dreams princess." It's time for the annual 74th Hunger Games. You're 18, and it's your last chance to get reaped. You've been training s...
