My first Clato fan fiction. I hope there will be more. This is originally written as a drabble I wrote for a graphic made by iloveyoucato on tumblr. Needless to say, this is dedicated to her and her beautiful graphic. -edited!-
Title: Those Emerald Eyes
Word count: 1,228
Pairing: Clato
Rating: T for slight killings
Warnings: Might be a little OOC
Genre: Romance/Friendship
Summary: Clove hasn't talked to Cato since they won the 74th Hunger Games. She wants whatever feelings she harbored for him gone, and she thought that the only thing to do to be successful in it, was to not talk to Cato. It has now been three months, and Cato's had enough.
You can love someone so much, but you can never love people as much as you miss them. -John Green
During the Games, Clove developed feelings for Cato that shouldn't have been present in the first place. She never admitted it to herself to her fear that doing so might trigger her feelings into growing some more. But even if she didn't admit to it, her feelings still had been three months since Clove and Cato of District 2 won the 74th Hunger Games under different circumstances. And it had also been three months since Clove last talked to Cato.
And the fact that he helped her escaped when that tribute from 11 almost killed her didn't help either. Sure she called for him, but it was out of instinct. He's her District partner. Of course she'd call for him. Well, at least that's what she's like to think. Cato killed 11 on the spot with his sword. When Clove came to her senses, she sent a knife flying towards 12's direction. It landed on her back, just a couple of inches away to where her heart should've been. The Girl on Fire landed dead just as the cannon for her sounded, followed by the cannon for 11. Clove turned around and found herself engulfed in a hug by Cato.
This, of course, sent, what the girls in her school would like to call as, 'butterflies' in her stomach.
And it didn't help that Cato whispered stuffs to her.
Certain stuffs that starts with 'I' and ends with 'You'.
"I thought I'd lost you, Clove." He whispered against her hair.
Clove didn't reply so she just hugged him tightly.
But then the stupid mutts came and decided to ruin their moment. Cato was the first to notice the redhead tribute from 5 who looks like a fox running towards them, shortly followed by the mutts.
"Send a knife towards redhead, will you?" Cato asked Clove. She nodded and sent one flying, but missed. It must've been adrenaline. Yes. That was it, she concluded.
"We've got to run, Cato. The mutts will eat us alive if we don't." She frantically shouted at him. Cato nodded and led her to the Cornucopia. They scrambled their way up and thought 5 was already eaten alive when she suddenly appeared with them.
The look on 5's face was full of terror. What surprised them more was that 5 begged them to make her death fast.
"Please, please make it fast." 5 begged them. She went down to her knees and Clove almost pitied her. So she stuck her with one of her knives, directly to her chest. The cannon boomed pronouncing 5 dead. Cato pushed 5 down at the Cornucopia and into the mutts. That's when Clove noticed the eyes of the person she once despised because of being too clingy to Cato.
"Cato! Cato it's them!" She clutched Cato's shirt, upon seeing Glimmer's eyes on one of the mutts.
"What?" Cato wiped the streams of tears running down her face with his hand.
"The other tributes. It's them." She whispered shakily.
Cato recognized his and hugged Clove once again. "Maybe it's not them, Clove. It can't be them." He whispered to her soothingly. Clove only nodded and buried her face in Cato's chest, still clutching his shirt. The only thing that registered to her then was Seneca Crane announcing them as the Victors of the 74th Hunger Games.
Clove sighed and continued eating. She heard the front door to her house in the Victor's Village open, and she assumed that it was just her parents coming home from their shifts as Peacekeepers.
What she didn't assume was Cato entering house in a distressed state. When he rounded the corner, Clove caught her breath. He looked so different from the Cato she met before.
"Hi, Clove" He waited for her to greet him back, but she didn't so he continued. "Your uh, your front door was opened so I just walked in. I hope you don't mind that." He scratched the back of his head, a gesture Clove concluded as something he does whenever he's nervous about certain things, which is very rare.
The hardest part of avoiding Cato was that they live across each other, and they go to the same school together. Every time they would pass by each other in the hallways of their school, Clove would catch him giving her longing looks. Clove would ignore this, of course. And the fact that their parents knew and are friends with each other didn't help either.
Clove was brought back to her current predicament when she heard him speak again.
"You don't talk to me. Why?" he asked her silently. The past few months had been nothing but torture to him. Ever since they won the Games, Clove hasn't uttered a single word to her. The only time she seemed to consider him was during the Victory Tour, and even then it was pretty limited. And now Cato's couldn't handle it anymore.
"Did I do something wrong?" he racked his hand through his messy blond hair, this time frustrated. "Clove you have to talk to me." He desperately said. Still, Clove just sat there eating.
Cato couldn't handle it anymore. He missed talking to her, which is probably the only rational thing he does. Clove keeps him in track. Her soothing voice that seems to be present only when she's talking with him calms him down. And not hearing it makes him lose his mind.
The reason why Clove hasn't talked to Cato in the past few months was that she was hoping that her feelings for him will fade. It has not, however, since the past few months has been of torture to her.
And she knows that Cato feels the same, since he's never seen him so distressed before. To her, he's always calm and collected.
Cato caught her green sparkling eyes and did his best to hold her gaze. When she dropped it, Cato sighed. He'd calculated his options on saying what he was about to say, and even though the odds were not with him, Cato had to try. Even if it meant not talking to her for a whole year just to give her time to think whatever the reason to why she wasn't talking to her was.
Cato waits for a few minutes before finally deciding that he's had enough. He looked at her one more time, lingering on her soft emerald eyes. He sighed before saying, "Fine. I'm leaving. See you at the next Games, Clove." He sauntered off the room.
Clove watched him as he walks away. She kept on eating until she was sure that he's at her front foor before following him. By the time she saw him, he was already closing the door.
"Cato!" she shouted.
Cato froze and turned around. He wasted no time and paced towards Clove. When they were directly in front of each other, Cato stared at those emerald eyes of hers and hugged her tightly, her small figure engulfed in his big one.
"I missed you, Clove. I miss you. Do not not talk to me ever again, you understand that?" he whispered against her hair.
Clove laughed silently in reply and hugged him more tightly. She buried her face in his chest, a gesture Cato secretly loved, and inhaled his minty scent before noticing that Cato had kissed the top of her head.
So this is my first Clato fan fiction. I hope to write many more on their pairing aaaand, thank you for reading! Please don't forget to review, my fellow Clato-shippers.
Love always, Clatobelles