I have a confession to make, guys. Marvel is my favorite Career. But I suspect that that's only because of Jack Quaid.
Anyway, here is some Marvel/Glimmer friendship- again some Glarvel is you squint reaaaaally closely. I didn't think they would have made an interesting romantic pairing- I mean, there's barely anything on them in the books- which means I had plenty of room to work with but also no real substance to draw from the books. And besides, not every pairing has to be friends right off the bat.
Unlike Cato and Clove, who in my mind both knew that they were the best and bonded because they were the best, I didn't think Marvel or Glimmer were fantastically good, or had to be. But what draws people sometimes together is tragedy. Hence, this fic.
Like my Clato fic "moments", this draws from the first two chapters of my Careers fic "Macula Tamen Venia". Please refer to it if there are some things that are unclear in this story, it may clear up some questions! Okay, I'm done with shameless self-advertisement.
As always, I do not own the Hunger Games.
001.
Glimmer and Marvel both go into training when they're eleven.
Neither of them notice each other.
They're only eleven, and they have bigger things to worry about. Like surviving.
002.
At eleven, Glimmer offers a small smile to Marvel.
He doesn't smile back. He doesn't have many friends, and he's content to keep it that way.
People leave him too much, he decides, so it's just easier to keep a low profile and keep to himself.
003.
They quickly develop reputations around school and the training center.
Glimmer becomes an instant hit with the boys and a popular queen bee among the girls, but she also becomes well known for outdueling the rest in swordplay and close combat.
Marvel, on the other hand, develops a reputation as the "loner kid", but nobody in his age group can best him in spear throwing. He specializes in long range attacks- which doesn't really help when the older boys pick on him and engage him in spontaneous practice fights.
004.
The closest thing Marvel has to a friend is an older boy named Comet. Sometimes, Comet brings food and shares it- Marvel can't help but feel that Comet pities him for having a mother who is crazy and a father who always runs away.
"Hey," Comet says one day while they're sharing beef jerky, "do you know Glimmer? She's in your grade. Pretty green eyes, blonde hair?"
Marvel shrugs. "Seen her around," he says through a mouthful of jerky, "but that's the first time I've heard her name." Comet looks disappointed for a fraction of a second, but he pulls it together and offers Marvel another piece.
005.
They're thirteen before they have their first real conversational exchange.
It's not a romantic conversation, and it's not a funny one either. Marvel walks by the water fountain where she is, ice packs on the bruises on his ribs. She straightens up when she sees him, her green eyes guarded as she assesses him. "You did well in there," she says, referring to the surprise victory he's just pulled in the hand-to-hand combat against the trainer.
He doesn't stop walking, but he does mutter "Thanks," as he pushes through the doors.
006.
She begins dating Comet shortly after that; Marvel only nods blankly when Comet tells him about the stolen kisses behind the gym after practice.
He doesn't really care for these sorts of things; he just wants to practice and be the best so he can win these Games and maybe get some help for his mother or find his missing brothers. He hates feeling alone- and maybe he just misses his best friend because now he feels even more alone than ever.
He just pushes the thought away, though. He's only fourteen, after all, and still doesn't really care for girls.
007.
At the age of seventeen, Comet's name is called and no one wants to volunteer. Fifteen year old Marvel grits his teeth, because he's well aware that the boys in Comet's age group disapproved of Comet hanging with him all the time. Something about social standing. So here they are, sending Comet off to die.
After the Reaping, he runs to the center where he grabs the first spear he sees and hurls it at the wall. It sticks there and trembles, just like Marvel as he trembles with barely concealed rage and anger at losing the one person he might have trusted his life with.
Glimmer watches him from the doorway. "I miss him too," she says quietly, and he whirls to see her sliding down the wall, green eyes glassy with tears. "I miss him too, Marvel."
008.
Comet survives for the first week, and Marvel lets himself slip into the illusion that Comet may just win this round of the Games (he ignores the fact that there's people bigger and faster than Comet and better still, Comet has no weapon left). So as he walks, he ignores the hushed whispers of people betting on his friend and how much longer he'll last (he doesn't hear a single one of them ever mention the possibility of Comet winning).
The only person who seems to believe in Comet as much as he does is Glimmer, so when Marvel sees her staring at the empty television set in a classroom one day, he tiptoes over and gives her a piece of his sloppily made cheese sandwich, and she accepts with a barely repressed sob.
Comet dies the next day. Marvel and Glimmer avoid training and just sit with each other in silence by the gym wall. Glimmer thinks of kisses and Marvel thinks of a lost friendship, but both of them are acutely aware of the loneliness that envelopes them.
009.
"Leave him alone," Glimmer says for the millionth time when she rounds the corner to find sixteen year old Marvel struggling against the eighteen year olds. She crosses her arms and glares at them, and they let go immediately.
"Aw, c'mon Glim," one of them whines, but Glimmer's green eyes grow frosty and they just back away.
"Thanks, but I had it," Marvel grumbles, dusting himself off. Glimmer looks at him with a crooked smile, only saying, "You should quit flirting with their girlfriends, you know." Marvel doesn't say anything, because well- Glimmer is kind of right in this regard- but he does stop.
010.
Marvel can't sleep late one night, so he wanders the empty streets of District 1.
Or at least he thinks they're empty.
He finds Glimmer sitting on the park bench, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. When he awkwardly sits down next to her, she begins sobbing something about not being good enough and how she misses Comet so and oh, she just wants him back and she just wants to win and it's not good enough if she- and Marvel loses track of what she's saying because she drifts off into incoherent sobbing. So he just awkwardly hugs her and lets her sob into his shoulder, because he can sense the loneliness that's hanging around Glimmer and he's had enough of it for seventeen years to know what it feels like, anyway.
011.
"I'm going to volunteer," she says at the young age of seventeen years old the day before the Reaping.
"Don't do it," he says instantly.
"I can win," she insists, but Marvel isn't concerned about that at all- he's concerned that she's trying to prove too much, that this isn't the way to prove herself, that he's going to lose someone else he's grown to care for- and he can tell that Glimmer won't listen, but he tries anyway. It works for that year, but Marvel has a sinking feeling that it won't stop Glimmer for long.
012.
When she volunteers at eighteen years old, she feels as though she is on top of the world. As she strides past, she catches sight of Marvel's white suit, and her green eyes briefly look at this still- almost-stranger, this boy she has learned to trust. His dark eyes stretch into the grin she's learned to pick apart, the grin that says I'm okay. Leave me. Like everyone else has.
She suddenly feels terribly guilty that she's leaving Marvel alone. She knows now that she's basically the only person he trusts, and here she is shipping herself off to the Games.
But then she barely has time to process before his name is getting bellowed out, and while his face changes from a fake smile to a blank expression, suddenly that feeling of guilt is twisting itself in her stomach and now it just feels like plain old fear.
Whether you liked it, tolerated it, or hated it, reviews, as always, are deeply appreciated :)