He didn't know how to respond to the question. The truth wasn't a valid option, there were things that not even the Capitol crowd liked. Things like this. The bright stage lights felt sultry on his skin and the people were cheering for him to give an answer. His natural charm had made him quite popular among the people in the Capitol. Suddenly he knew exactly what he could say. "My love.. Came with me". At that instant the whole crowd fell silent for a moment while people were trying to process what they just heard. The screens all around him turned to Katniss, whose face was almost as red as her dress. For a moment everybody seemed to be speechless, including Peeta himself.
After a brief moment of silence people started cheering and applauding, some overly dramatic people in the crowd even began to cry. "Thank you for sharing that with us, Peeta." Ceasar replied in a warm sympathizing voice. "Star-crossed lovers from district twelve, how tragic". Ceasar whipped one tear away and shook Peeta's hand. The cue for Peeta to get off the stage. No matter how interesting a tribute's interview was, every tribute had exactly fifteen minutes on that gigantic stage.
Peeta walked of the stage slowly, thinking about what he kept hidden from the public. He didn't lie about the fact that his love came with him. The problem was that his love wasn't directed at Katniss. No matter how lovely the girl on fire looked in her shimmering dress, his heart belonged to someone else. Another tribute. He glanced quickly in the direction of Cato and his heart stopped for a second. The only thing in his mind at that moment was how handsome he looked in his black suit. As a matter of fact, how handsome he always looked. Ever since he first saw Cato on television the only things he could think about were his blue eyes and shy smile.
On most occasions Cato had a very stern and serious face, like now. Sometimes, however, you could find the shimmer of a smile, if you really knew where to look. He didn't know exactly how the people in the Capitol would have reacted if he had told the truth. He knew, however, that the people back home would despise him if they knew. People in some of the poorer districts didn't look kindly upon people who loved someone of the same-sex. They had a very persistent stereotype locked in their minds. A stereotype that seemed to consist of everything they hated about the extrovert people in the Capitol, everything the loathed deeply. He learned that very early on.
The downfall of our country, my son, began a long time ago. When the perverts in the Capitol began to rule us. I'm not supposed to tell you this kind of stuff. But you'll have to remember that the downfall of any society begins with power for the dirty-minded: Rapists, Lesbians, Homosexuals, Sluts, Liberals and the like. The scum of every society. It's disgusting how they force their godless political ideas on us hard working citizens. How they fought for the right to kill their babies fresh from the womb and how they wanted perverts to have the same rights as us. As US! They eventually got their way and we, the law-abiding, god-loving citizens have to work for their flamboyant lives until our death.
His Father was as wrong as any man could possibly be. Furthermore, his father had never been to the Captiol. He didn't know how much it was propagated to have as many children as possible. That has been propagated ever since a futility sickness swept over the Capitol years ago. Maybe gays and lesbians weren't murdered in the Capitol, like in some districts, but they sure were treated as second-class citizens by the government. There's even a rumour that president Snow personally banished his own daughter to district one when he discovered she was a lesbian. There are debates on this and it was never acknowledged by the government or any authority figure. But you could argue that no one would voluntarily trade the beautiful prestige of the presidential skyscraper for any district. No matter how prosperous the district in question is.
When Peeta came back to the penthouse in the tribute's building, Katniss was angry at him. Of course she was angry! The only thing that he could tell her was that it was all pretend. "You should have told me you were planning this!" she said with a fiery look in her eyes. "I know, but it was improvised, I had to tell Ceasar something". Haymitch stepped in to calm Katniss down "Well, maybe it's a good thing. The people from the Capitol like drama. Maybe this is exactly the kind of thing they want to see on television". Katniss only seemed to get more angry, her body tightened at the mere thought of being entertainment to the Captiol crowd. "Yeah, let them have their sadistic games. Sex and blood seems to be the only thing these people enjoy". When Effie gave her a shocked look she stared back coldly. "Good night" she said and stamped of in the direction of her bedroom.
Haymitch just shrugged and sat down to pour a drink. "Want some?" he asked Peeta. "No thank you". He said. "I think I will get up to the roof, I'm in desperate need of some fresh air". Haymitch just nodded and Peeta got out of the room quickly. He only has a couple of days to live, he'd rather spend the time he had left in a place he actually liked. The apartment was to futuristic for his taste. He felt uncomfortable every time he looked at anything in the room. Everything seemed to have been covered in a shiny layer of silver or gold. It was too much to look at when you knew people outside the Capitol were dying from starvation.
He sat down between the flowers and looked at those high and weird buildings that decorated the Capitol's skyline. He finally calmed down a bit when he looked at the beauty of the flowers around them. They were beautiful, they were pure. It didn't matter if they were modified, they would have looked beautiful no matter what happened to them. Flowers seemed to exist only for the purpose of being beautiful, the mere existence of something naturally beautiful made him smile with happiness and hope for the future. There would always be a future and there would always exist beauty, with or without him.
He must have sat there for hours when he suddenly heard the sound of the elevator coming near. He heard the metal doors of the elevator opening and immediately assumed it was Katniss. He hesitated for a second. "Katniss?" he asked into the darkness. He didn't even finish her name when he heard someone shrug deeply. "Is she really the only thing you care about?" a familiar voice replied harshly. His heart skipped a beat at the sound of that voice and when he peered into the darkness, he recognised Cato's posture.
Cato crossed the space between the elevator and the patch of flowers quickly. When he sat next to Peeta, Peeta could immediately feel his warmth and had to stop himself from touching Cato's soft skin. "I know the way you look at me and I saw the way you blushed at me after your interview". Cato whispered softly in Peeta's right ear. Halfway through Cato's words, Peeta's head turned red and he had the feeling that his cheeks were beginning to radiate warmth in every direction.
After a pause which seemed to last an eternity Cato finally continued. "Please tell me you love me". The insecurity in his trembling voice was almost to painful to bear. Peeta didn't know what to say. What could he possibly reply to that? Suddenly he felt that burning urge to kiss his lips. He got closer and closer to Cato, their eyes locked for a second before their lips touched each other. When they kissed, Peeta felt freer than he ever felt before. He felt Cato's body relax while he stroked through Cato's soft blonde hair. They kissed each other passionately until they lay breathless beside each other. They both couldn't say anything. They could only look up at the starry night while Peeta lay in Cato's strong arms. Peeta could feel the flow of happiness that went through his whole body. He wanted to lie next to Cato until the end of days. Truth was, however, that there was no way around the fact that the road ahead will hurt them both violently, beyond repair.