YOU BELONG WITH ME – SEVEN
Hurtful Words to a Broken Soul
Cato's P.O.V-
"C-Cato? Why? Why did you do it?" Peeta asks, eyes teary and bloodshot. And truthfully, I don't know how to answer. Never had I felt or done something like that towards any other person. Insecurity? Gratefulness? Maybe a thousand choices shot through my head, but as an answer, I gave him the cruelest, untruest one that could come from my mouth.
"Because I love him, not you. Because he wants me, and I want him just as badly." I answer, causing his cobalt eyes to widen as he reaches a hand out towards me slowly and worriedly. And without control of my body, I slap him away. I want to scream to him the truth, that it was stupid and wrong and I did it because I wasn't thinking, but instead I snicker at his fearful expression. Something, or someone, else is possessing me to do this.
"Cato!" Peeta screams. I just shake my head.
"No Peeta. He's mine. All mine. And you can't have one bit of him." Brutus snickers, materializing next to me out of thin air.
I wake, sitting straight up in my bed, my finger nails ripping into the sheets. A dream. It was a dream. Nothing was real. O-Or maybe... Maybe it was...
I carefully get up from the bed, trying not to wake Brutus who is passed out next to me. I slide on a pair of jeans and quietly head to the bathroom.
I wash my face of the sweat, or maybe they were tears, that came as result of my dream. Who am I? I don't even recognize myself anymore...
Footsteps flood the halls. I suspect Brutus has woken, until my father stumbles into the bathroom.
"What are you doing up so late, faggot?" He scolds.
I've had quite enough of all the rude comments and anger directed at me though. "Shut up, dad." I respond, trying to hide the fact I just sobbed myself awake by continuing to wash my face.
He grabs me by the back of my shoulder, spinning me around and getting in my face. "What did you just say?" He whispers roughly. "You wanna tell me to shut up? You're the whiny little faggot no one likes!"
I slap his hand away. "Maybe I wouldn't be so whiny if I had a father there throughout my childhood! Maybe if you'd listened and made an effort to care about your damn son, I would have more friends! I would love you! But I don't!" I yell, my words laced with venom that I can see he has carelessly let flood his system as his usual drunken expression has been turned into an open mouthed look of surprise. His hand slides nimbly from my shoulder, and he stares blankly at me for a second.
"Cato," He begins, his voice still cold and uninviting, though this is the first time he has called me my name and not "faggot" in the longest time. "But I thought so much of you as a boy, when all the girls threw themselves at you and had crushes on you. And then you came home with that stupid boy at your side and ruined it all!"
I grab him by the collar of his shirt and grit my teeth. "Don't ever call him stupid. Ever." I hiss.
"But he ruined it! It's his fault my son likes disgusting little faggots like him!" he yells, all thoughts of waking Brutus and mom up flooding out of our thoughts.
I punch him across the face and leave him to fall on the floor. "Don't call him that!" I finish, before stepping out of the bathroom. He follows me into my room.
"A boy, huh?" He asks coldly, referring to Brutus. "Thought your heart was set on the poor baker boy."
I roll my eyes and point to the door. "Get out!" I whisper harshly.
"You know, I don't appreciate the fact my son is sleeping with boys he barely knows under my roof." He smirks. "You some sort of whore now? What a shame. I helped bring another person like you into this world. A disgusting, faggot, whore!"
I bite my lip to hold back tears, before grabbing a shirt off of my dresser and running out of the room.
I run outside, where I discover it's been raining. The whole scene is like that of a sappy romance novel, where the main character runs through the rain to get to their lover. But I'm not going to find my lover. I'm running aimlessly through the streets at two in the morning in a pair of jeans and bright red shirt, while it's raining. Until I see his house.
I knock gently on the window of his bakery, where I see Peeta is still awake. Why, I don't know.
Peeta looks at me, and given the circumstances, he lets me in.
"What the hell happened?" He asks, sizing me up and down. Tattered, soaked jeans, tousled, wet hair and bloodshot eyes. How attractive.
"M-My dad... He kept... Kept calling me a disgusting, faggot and.. and a whore..." I say quietly, tears streaming down my face again.
Peeta slowly wraps his arms around me, trying not to seem to affectionate. "It's okay... Just come sit down..." Peeta whispers, motioning me over to a table and two chairs.
Peeta's P.O.V-
I know I shouldn't be talking to him, but he's hurt. Very hurt. I have to be somewhat sympathetic. His father hasn't treated him right since he was twelve.
He sits with his head in his arms, sobbing his eyes out and pouring his heart out to me. He tells me everything that happened, but I stop him when he brings Brutus up.
"B-Brutus? What was he doing over?" I ask nervously, hoping it's not the reason I think.
Cato pauses, looking up at me. He looks... Shamed. Nervous.
"Cato... You didn't." I say, hopefully and feared. "Tell me you didn't do anything with him."
He shakes his head. "I-I wish I could say I didn't Peeta..."
"No... No Cato... You had sex with Brutus?" I exclaim, standing from my seat.
He bites his lip and begins crying again. And that's why I realize why he's crying so hard. His father has called him this so many times before. A whore, a faggot, disgusting. But now... He believed him this time.
I sit back down, a bewildered expression on my face. "I'm disgusting, Peeta. I hate myself for this..." He says shamefully, wiping his nose.
"Don't hate yourself..." I whisper, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. "You didn't know what you were doing..."
He cuts off the rest of my sentence. "No, you know the worst part? I did know what I was doing. I kissed him. I suggested it. I wanted it. And then... And then you came into my thoughts... after it happened" he says, refusing to meet my eyes. "Peeta... Help me please... I don't even know who I am anymore..." he whispers, more tears jerking from his eyes.
And then I realize that this isn't about his crush on me anymore, this isn't about Katniss and him. Cato Jensen is broken inside, from all of the hate, the wrong decisions, the insecurities. And he needs me to fix him. He's just dropped every fragile bit of himself into my hands.
What the hell do I do?
