Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN: Totally AU. I love those, don't I? You might surmise that this has a vaguely GG plot. That's because it does. I felt it didn't fit one of my stories, so I adapted it for District 2. In this world, Cato isn't picked for the Games, but ends up going into further training. Think of it as grad school for killing. Later, he can mentor future trainees. I made Katniss and Glimmer best friends in the way Blair and Serena never would be.
Also, this doesn't really matter, but the blogosphere has been going crazy with casting Finnick. Who are your choices? I vote Chris Hemsworth but I feel like the world might implode if 2+ Hemsworth brothers are in the same movie. Too much attractiveness in one setting, you know.
At the break of dawn I will keep you warm
Through the strongest storm you wont be scared again
Like a northern star you will guide my heart
So whenever part and dont feel any shame
-Diego Boneta "Million Years"
Cato is five years old when he makes his first friend in District 2. When he visits him at his house, his parents fight like the parents he's only seen on the television. He knows better than to say anything to them because his parents have raised him better than that, but he notices nonetheless. He is more observant than most children and he would be an observant young adult.
He is twelve the first time he kisses a girl, really kisses a girl. Her name is Clove and she's older and his friends think he's so cool. They're at the movies and it's a romantic comedy (her choice) and totally cliché, but he knows it's better to let the girl have her way so you can have yours. He may be twelve, but his father taught him this years before. He throws an arm around Clove's petite shoulders casually. She predictably leans into his grasp as the stars on screen embrace and then he makes his move. She tastes like cherry lip gloss with a pinch of pineapple soda and he thinks he tries to savor the experience to make it last.
Carter has ruled the Lower Academy for years, so it's only right that he dominates the position of king once he reaches the Upper Academy. He's fourteen when Brutus hands him his first joint. It's a welcome relief from the pressure he's beginning to feel from his father. He begins meeting Brutus every day after school and some days before. It's the summer before his second to last year before he hits him up at lunch as well.
It's that same summer he loses his virginity to Clove's best friend Enobaria. The girls stop speaking for the first half of the year, but he doesn't feel too attached to either of them, so he lets it occur. It happens at her grandfather's estate at the edge of the District, where he's introduced to her young cousin who will later be his friend. Twelve year old Peeta Mellark walks hand-in-hand with new girlfriend Katniss Everdeen. His girlfriend is a high and mighty princess clad in floral sundresses with matching flats. He doesn't have to squint much to make her look like Clove.
Cato is sixteen and beginning his second to last year when his father truly begins cracking down on him. It's all Hunger Games this and bring our District glory that and he's so fucking sick of hearing the damn words Games and glory that he buys a steamroller to feel the impact of the weed just a little bit more. It's not hitting the right spot so when Brutus offers him a clear bag filled with coke, he says why not and rolls up a new bill.
It's a few weeks into the first semester when Test Week rolls around. The Academy is almost as passionate about choosing the District's next volunteer as his father and it's really pissing him off so he sneaks off to the bathroom to do a bump.
When he leaves the stall and his schoolmate Caius sneers at him in condescension, he scathingly utters, "Stop staring at me, fucker. I'll snap your neck with one hand."
The older student backs off without a second glance.
As others struggle with physical prowress, Cato easily trains hard enough to stay enrolled at the Academy. It's easy enough for him, but he's too apathetic at this point to begin caring. When the District chooses Caius' younger brother Aurelius, he retreats to a country east of Panem, east of everything he's ever known.
He's roaming a museum when he walks out in search of something to make him care. He wanders for half an hour before he stumbles upon a painting. It's nowhere near sunset and he thinks of walking away from them to avoid confrontation before he eyes the long blonde hair of Glimmer.
She is laughing with her hair thrown back and her arms are thrown over two lanky boys who flock at the attention.
He ambles in her direction until he is standing directly in front of her and greets her, "Hello, Glimmer."
She doesn't even have the decency to be surprised when she lets go of her boys to throw her arms around him and say, "Cato! What are you doing in Republika?"
Her hair swirls around him in the wind and he can catch the strong hint of something illegal. He can't judge her because he's definitely been higher, so he grabs her waist and pulls her tighter around him. She laughs into his grip as she kisses him directly on the lips.
"I've missed you," she teases, and he isn't even sure what she means by this, because they haven't ever really been friends.
Two can play this game, he decides, before he replies, "No more than I've missed you."
Glimmer fucks straight out of a porn.
He's slept with younger women, older women, married women, and everything in between, but he's never slept with anyone quite like her. She's captivating and beautiful, but for every time the sunlight catches her hair, the rain is reflected in her sad navy eyes. He wants to ask her what's wrong, but that's not what they're about. They're physical. Maybe one day he'd be ready for the emotional. Today wasn't that day. He's not sure if he will ever see that day.
Her sexual appetite is never sated, because he's exhausted (which is embarrassing) when she wants to go at it for a sixth time. They've been at it for hours and she's never quite satiated. It's demoralizing.
It's their third night awake in a row and they're drinking bottles upon bottles of delicious red wine when Glimmer confesses, "I slept with Peeta."
He's confused but he blames it on the wine when he asks, "What?"
She's crying now and he thinks the excessive drugs have made her delirious when she replies, "Peeta. I slept with Peeta. Katniss' Peeta." The last part is a whisper.
He tries to comfort her by holding her, but she's shivering and he doesn't know what to do. Her lips are blue and he thinks she might pass out, but she comes out of the spell eventually. He breathes a sigh of relief when she falls asleep naturally in his arms an hour later.
She's gone in the morning and there are cops at the door. They want him to explain the coke and pot and painkillers, but he doesn't have time for this because he has to find her (he thinks) so he makes his escape when he falsely points the finger in one of the native's direction.
Cato is twenty when he finds himself at Katniss' penthouse for a pre-Hunger Games party. It's the epitome of District 2 cliché, but this is how he grew up and if he wants his parents to trust him again, he must go.
Glimmer greets him with surprise as she introduces him to her boyfriend, Marvel. The boy looks friendly enough and she looks settled and happy and his feelings for her have long flown past, so he shakes Marvel's hand and makes nice. She appears confused. He winks at her. He is, after all, still Cato.
They sit together and sip tea when Katniss asks questions about Republika and his travels. He smiles at her knowledge of highly rated hotels and leaves out the fact that he slept in hostels on the nights he decided to sleep. She's grown up to be a beautiful girl and he can appreciate what Peeta once saw in her. He 'accidentally' leaves his jacket draped over a chair so he has an excuse to return.
He wants to pretend Katniss will turn her nose up at him when he returns to pick up his jacket, but she greets him with a beautiful smile with lips that match her simple dress. He wants to dislike her and it's because she represents everything he's ever tried to run away from, but when her big gray eyes look up at him underneath a thick fringe of lashes, he curses the day he cursed District 2.
Katniss is witty and understanding (which is surprising to him, but he thinks he might have underestimated her) when she easily keeps up with him. They're sitting on her cream living room couch lounging when he all but forgets about the purposefully left jacket. Then her phone rings and she lights up and he feels like this conversation meant more to him than it did to her (who is he becoming?) and he assumes it's Peeta by the way she easily dismisses him by shooing him into the elevator. She gives him a quick, but lingering hug before she ushers him out.
"I'll see you soon," she promises, and he knows she means the party.
Cato is twenty-one when he steps into a posh bar downtown to find Glimmer slipping out quietly. He doesn't stop to bother her because she's honestly not worth it, so he steps inside for a scotch. He finds a fully-equipped bar and one lonely Katniss Everdeen sitting on a stool, steps from the attentive bartender. She is drowning her apparent sorrows into her clear glass with its clear fluid, playing with the olives adorning it.
His voice is barely above a whisper when he addresses her, "Hello, beautiful."
She looks up slowly, not sure what to believe, "Cato," before answering, "What are you doing here?"
"Buying you a drink," he responds sincerely, trailing his right hand across her thigh.
She shivers under his touch as he waves the bartender over to get them another round.
Whatever wild sex he thought he had with Glimmer is put to shame when he spends the night with Katniss. Her parents are overseas and she's all by herself so she invites him up. There's a whole other girl underneath the frigid exterior that's beckoning to be awakened by his slightest touch. She reacts so easily to his fingers sliding up and down her thighs that he thinks he might come from anticipation. Nevertheless, he's Cato, so he doesn't.
She moans under his touch and surprises him when she flips him over roughly.
"I like being on top," she mentions slyly, her eyelashes grazing the skin of his chest.
He doesn't pause to think as he pushes up into her harder, deeper. She's holding his shoulders for support as she balances her weight on top of him. There are scratches up and down his back and he's never thought Katniss Everdeen was the kinky type. Who knew?
Her stamina is begging to discredit him more than it did in Republika, so he settles on her bed as she walks downstairs to get a drink. He's just about to fall asleep when he hears the ding of an elevator. He's not sure who it is so he hastily throws on his pants and an unbuttoned button down.
Peeta's downstairs trying to woo Katniss with a box containing a pearl necklace as she nurses a glass of scotch in only her best lingerie. God, she was sexy. He hopes he looks sweaty as he saunters toward Katniss, rolling the cuffs of his sleeves.
Peeta looks crestfallen and angry when he asks, "What are you doing with this waste?"
Katniss lazily replies, "Having the time of my life," which makes Cato wonder whether they are having fun, fucking with Peeta, a combination of both, or something entirely different.
He dips down to taste her full, red lips, just in case she's answer B, when Peeta decides he's had enough and he leaves. He's on her in under sixty seconds and the rush he gets from tasting her feels like nothing else in the entire world.
Cato is still twenty-one when Peeta and Glimmer try to drive him out of the country. Glimmer threatens to tell Katniss about Republika, which leaves Peeta confused (he can see him in the corner of his eye), but she doesn't explain further. He knows this information will hurt Katniss like he knows Glimmer doesn't want to tell her (sometimes) best friend, so he leaves, because it's easier, because he's Cato and that's what he does.
He spends the night in a faceless town with a faceless brunette who is not nearly enough like Katniss. He catches the first train back to District 2. It's not to see her, even though he thinks he might be lying to himself. He visits his father in his corner office at the Quarry and tells him he's ready to take hold of his life.
His father looks impressed and asks, "What brought this on, son?"
He shrugs, a sign his father hates, and then replies, "I'm ready to continue training and do the life plan thing you laid out for me."
It's sloppily said but it's the context that matters and his father's face lights up like he never thought this day would come. He's not the only one, Cato thinks.
Cato thinks twenty-one might be the longest year of his life when he begins the Graduate Academy three years later than he should have.
"Better late than never," his mother had told him, before she sends him off with a kiss.
He knows better by now than to roll his eyes at her, truly the one that ran their household.
He feels played when he's conned into returning home for an away match versus a local school, but the guys that live across the hall insist. They bother him like most guys do so he escapes for a quick reprieve by going to buy a beer. It's a shock to see a familiar brunette braid against a faded blue dress at a hotdog stand in the stadium.
"Katniss?" he asks, because he has to be sure.
When she turns around, she is juggling two hotdogs in her hands, along with a rather large cup of frozen lemonade. She looks rather endearing as she tries to glare at him, but he can't help but ignore her anger in favor of staring at her soft, pink lips.
"Cato," she utters, with a quick roll of the eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, the only obvious question to ask.
She raises her eyebrows at him like he should know better (he should) when she answers coldly, "I go here now."
He knows she had to go to school somewhere, but he never thought she would stay in District 2. He tells her this.
"Yes, well, I had a reason to say," she answers cryptically, before sighing. "Look, I really have to get back. Peeta's waiting for me."
He's standing there nearly open mouthed as he watches her retreating figure. She goes back to the stadium and back to Peeta and why is he even Cato (because it doesn't seem to matter) if he can't even keep a girl properly?
Cato is twenty-five and waiting for a previous class to let out when he eyes some girls ogling him. There are no returned smiles on his part and they eventually look away. There's ringing laughter coming from the classroom that's oddly recognizable and when the dainty sound of Katniss' footsteps reach the doorway, he all but pauses for breath.
He is standing in the doorway staring at her for a short period of time before he greets her, "Long time no see, beautiful."
She's shocked and there's a slight tinge in her cheeks as she looks around her. Her classmates have gathered behind her as they witness this odd exchange between what seems to be friends.
Cato grins at her when she still hasn't responded, "I see I still have the power to make you speechless. Honestly, Katniss, I'm flattered."
There's a dimpled grin on his face and his eyes are bright blue with laughter when she swats him on the arm and replies, "Now Cato, that's not fair. I'm only shocked the admissions office let you in."
When he grabs his heart and pretends to be hurt, she elicits a tiny laugh on his behalf.
He invites her over. He expects she'll expect crude jokes and several thousand square feet of condo. She surprisingly gets neither. He shares a two-story red brick home with black shutters lined with white paint two blocks from campus with three other guys. His roommates are polite to her, offering her water when she comes in and asking what her opinion is on having alum President Snow speak at the latest commencement.
The boys are scarce, leaving Katniss and Cato alone. He's got the master bedroom on the first floor, but they don't spend their time in there. It's not even included in her tour. They watch two movies upstairs in the game room with the large French double doors. She's curled up against him and his left arm is carelessly draped around her shoulders, but never once does he try to elicit anything more than friendly from her.
He leaves her without a kiss (she looks genuinely sad), but he gives her a small grin and promises to call her later in the week. It's a start.
He tells her about Republika the next time they're together. It's later in the week — like he promised — and it's another casual day, but nothing's like the last time when he tells her about this week.
She stops answering his phone calls for a while. He stops calling after two weeks.
It's midnight on New Year's and he's in District 1 of all places when he eyes Katniss kissing Finnick Odair from District 4 with his District 4 tan and his District 4 blond hair. Cato thinks he hates District 4. He lays a hand on her shoulder that causes her to shiver and not because it's about twenty degrees outside.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
But this can't be correct because he can't care about her like this because they aren't anything to each other but a lost week in District 2 so many years ago. When she turns, Katniss isn't surprised to see Cato, but he's clean shaven and wearing a crisp Prada button down that's specifically tailored for him.
Finnick asks, "Who's this, Katniss?"
His arm's around her waist gripping her protectively and she slides further into his grip when she sees Cato eyeing him with a menacing glare. She turns to Finnick, kissing him easily on the mouth.
When she looks up a minute later, he's gone. He hopes she's happy.
It's February when he runs into Katniss again.
This time she runs smack dab into him at the front doors of the school.
He holds out muscular arms to steady her before looking her in the eyes and asking her if she is okay. She nods her response, but gulps down unspoken words.
"Okay," he mutters, not harsh, but certainly not too caring, either.
As he turns to go, she grabs his arm. It takes a lot to securely hold onto it, but nonetheless he stops so she can't let go.
"I—" she begins, and it's awkward and Katniss is not awkward, so she sucks it up and musters, "I am sorry, you know. I freaked out, but I'm Katniss Everdeen and I do that."
He's smiling when he takes her hand to his lips and kisses it.
She's blushing when he mentions, "I've always had a thing for easily freaked out girls. I think I could get over it."
Cato gives up taking things slow when Katniss unexpectedly shows up at his house later that night. He's glad his roommates are in their rooms when she abruptly attacks his mouth. Her lips are slightly more cherry red than they were earlier, he notices, when he tastes the cranberry on her gloss. It mixes exquisitely with the Jameson he'd just ingested and he closes the front door without ever taking his mouth off hers.
They're barely in his room when she starts tugging at his shirt. She pulls it roughly over his head before she starts unbuttoning his jeans. He's standing there in boxers before he realizes she's still wearing clothes. This isn't right.
He easily slides the gray sheath she is wearing over her head before noticing her matching black lingerie. It's lined in lace and for a minute, he just can't stop staring. He's never been with anybody as meticulous as Katniss Everdeen, but he thinks he could get used to this world of order and refinement.
"What?" she asks, the first word spoken between the two.
He looks down into her warm brown eyes before responding, "You're perfect."
Her eyes go wide in horror and she begins to protest before he captures his lips with his own again. She's grabbing the elastic band of his boxers when he effortlessly unclasps her bra. When he takes one of her breasts into his mouth and swirls his tongue around, she throws back her head and gives out the sexiest moan he's ever heard. God, what was he getting into?
He lays her on the bed before he slips off her panties. She's looking at him with wide eyes and innocence again, but they've done this before and she shouldn't be this shy. He doesn't think he'll ever understand her, but that doesn't mean he'll stop trying.
"You're wearing too many clothes," she mentions, before he rolls his eyes and slips off his boxers.
She stops complaining when he slides into her wet heat and shows her how she deserves to be worshiped.
They're a normal couple and they do normal things like sit by his stone fire in the large armchair in his living room. It unnerves Cato one day when Katniss is asleep on his shoulder and his roommates are out and her phone buzzes like mad. He half expects it to be the blond guy from New Year's with his District 4 tan, but gets even angrier when he finds out it's Peeta.
It's a nondescript text that asks, 'How are you?' but it leaves him slightly empty nonetheless. He wants to delete it, but instead, he marks it as unread and closes her phone, willing Peeta to go away. It doesn't buzz again and he hates himself for caring so much.
He and Katniss are very clearly together and he's never been the insecure one, but he's never been in a relationship before either, so he supposes there is a first for everything. The sinking feeling in his gut won't go away and it's annoying, but when Katniss moves slightly to fit her head into the crook of his neck, everything is made better. She always made everything better.
Cato is twenty-seven when his life falls into place. He has just graduated from the Graduate Academy, he has several job offers lined up, and Katniss has agreed to marry him.
He doesn't want to wake up from this dream so he asks her to pinch him.
"Why?" she asks, from their shared home.
"I just wanted to make sure you're real," he says, with a smirk evident on his face.
He wonders how he didn't fall in love with her so many years ago, when her hands are entwined with his.