"You know we could have done this in a public area."
That was the first thing Katniss said when he opened his door.
He smiled at her before replying, "Because all the public areas have cameras."
Katniss took a second to consider it.
"But not the hallway?" Her head was toward him, but her eyes started to wander around the hallway that she stood.
Her observation was cut short by him reaching for her arm and pulling her into the door.
It made her uncomfortable that this was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that he was touching her.
Katniss was not keen on people touching her. The only person she usually allowed to touch her was Prim. Even, Gale hardly touched her, due to him, like her, not being a touchy-feely person.
She touched Peeta a few times during the Game, but most of it was for the camera, and if she was honest with herself also, for comfort to know that she wasn't alone and that someone was with her.
She was concerned about how comfortable Marvel seemed to just reach out and touch her, even if it is just to grip her arm for practical reasons.
She pulled away, as soon as she was inside his room, trying to put some space between them.
His room was set up similar to hers, and Haymitch - who was the only other person's room she have been to- and now she figured that perhaps all the rooms on the train had a similar outline.
"I am here for answers." Katniss declared, her eyes still roaming around the room.
"Right to the point." She heard him mutter from where he stood, a little distance for her.
She turned towards him, "As opposed to what?"
He smirked. "You should have taken me up on my first offer."
Katniss squinted her eyes in confusion, trying to think back to what first offer he was referring to.
I was thinking we could help each other out.
"Are you going to give me answers, or…" Katniss folded her arms, and glared at him.
He walked over to one of the sofas, "I kinda just did, Girl on Fire."
Katniss was annoyed at him using that name to refer to her still. It seems like it will stick to her for the rest of her life.
"Well, could you be more clearer?" Katniss pressed.
He leaned back, seeming at ease, contrasting greatly with uptightness in this situation.
"You can't expect me to do all the work for free?"
Katniss glared before slowly walking over to the sofa directly facing him. She silently hoped that this wasn't a bad idea.
"Why did Cato do what he did?"
Marvel shrugged. "Who really understands Cato?"
Ok. Maybe this was a shitty idea.
Katniss could feel her pressure rising and she considered telling him off before walking out but she would be damned if she took the great risk of coming here without getting anything in return.
"How do you know the public area had cameras?"
He leaned forward. "I thought that fact was obvious. If they bugged our room there would be much more interesting, scandalous footage to use for their drama circus." He winked before leaning back.
That made sense.
"But not the hall?"
"I doubt it, but I could be wrong."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Marvel stared at her without replying. If there was a smirk or grin on his face, Katniss would not have been concerned but it was the blank look that had her on edge as if he was in deep contemplation.
Katniss opened her mouth to ask "What he really wanted?", but she didn't have a chance to because the next second, he confessed, "Snow told me to-"
The silence in the room changed. Katniss could feel her head pounding, her heart racing, the frenzied state her being went into as a result of hearing his name.
"I tried the nice method. I asked you." He added.
"I should have realized that if he told me, then he probably told Cato, but I didn't realize it was a competition, or that I too was a player in this game."
Katniss was frozen. Too frozen to say anything, or respond.
"Honestly, I was kinda happy when the Game ended like it did. I never really cared about the glory of the Hunger Games-"
Apparently, Katniss's disbelief caused a brief shift in her frozen expression, enough for Marvel to give out a humorless chuckle, before continuing.
"- I am serious, Katniss. I cared about the money, and all the things that came with being a Victor, but I wasn't mad that I wasn't the sole Victor. Not like Cato did. He spent his entire life training for it."
Katniss's throat was dry but she still managed to croak out, "And you didn't?"
"Not like he did. I had a life outside the Academy. Anyway, I was happy also because I knew about Snow's ongoing mind games with the Victors and I taught that since he had eyes for you, that you would occupy all his time and I would be free to actually enjoy the fruit of my labor."
"Cato did what he wanted. That's 1 for him, and 0 for me and for you - actually, you might be in the negatives."
Katniss wondered how he could manage to joke in such a situation like this.
"And you are scared?" Katniss inquired.
"Snow is crazy." He whispered so softly that Katniss almost didn't hear him. "He does things not only out of spite but out of boredom, for entertainment. And he always gets his pound of flesh, and I know he is going to take some of mine, because I didn't do what he told me to do."
It was weird seeing Marvel so somber, but the next second a smile appeared on his face and he declared, "But I guess whatever happens, at least I'm not you."
And there went Katniss's concern for Marvel's somberness.
"Why are you telling me this?" Katniss repeated her question from earlier.
"We're the losers, here. I thought it might be nice to have some solidarity." He smirked.
Despite all the negative concerns and emotions filling her head, Katniss couldn't help but smile slightly at that.
Snow's taking Marvel's pound of flesh came in the form of a fire.
No one died, but Marvel's little sister was hurt enough to be detained at a medical facility. His home was burnt in somehow an unexplained accident.
Despite being sympathetic, most of Katniss's thoughts after the incident revolved around worrying about the extent that Snow was willing to go to punish those that displeased him.
If he did that just because Marvel didn't do something he requested despite trying, what would he do to her.
She partially knew the answer to that question, despite her effort in the past weeks to not lose sleep over it.
She didn't go to his room that night of the incident to express her sympathy.
They weren't friends, and in spite of what he told her, she wasn't sure that she could trust him.
So the first thing she asked when the door opened was "Why did you tell them that Cato and I weren't in a relationship?"
A small smile appeared on his face, and he asked "Are you?"
"If you told them that we were maybe-" She started, but could not bring herself to finish.
"Wow. Blaming the victim. How heartless of you." It was clear he was joking, at least partially.
"Are you ok?" She finally asked.
He shrugged. " I was expecting something bad to happen."
Katniss didn't know how to react, so she just stood there in silence for some seconds.
"Do you want to come in?" He said after a while, moving aside and pushing the door wider, clearing a path for her.
There was nothing else she wanted to say to him, but yet she unconsciously nodded her head and her feet moved towards space between him and the door frame.
His bed was undone and the thought came across Katniss's mind that she might have been interrupting his bedtime, causing her to freeze after he shut the door.
"I really don't have anything else to say." She confessed. Hoping that it wasn't too late to back out and leave.
"Ok." was Marvel's only reply as he walked past her to go back to laying on his bed.
She didn't know what she should do, so she just stood there, until he lifted his head and said, "You don't actually have to say anything."
The only sound that filled the room was the sound of her feet as she walked over to the empty couch.
It only took a brief touch on her shoulder for her to wake up.
Katniss has always been a light sleeper but the games only deepened this trait in her.
It only took her a few seconds for her to realize where she was and for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room, and ultimately focus on Marvel whose face was on the same level as hers as he was squatting in front of her.
"I think it might be a good idea for you to leave before you start another scandal."
She leaped up quicker than normal and glanced around his room.
She didn't mean to fall asleep on the couch but apparently, she did, perhaps due to the silence that extended after she sat down last night.
She actually adhered to Marvel's suggestion that she didn't have to say anything. Even more strange, he didn't say anything either.
He just laid in his bed and she just sat there in complete yet comfortable silence.
"Yeah." She crooked out, trying to stand up.
"You know this is not how I imagined us spending a night together."
Katniss looked down at Marvel who was still squatting down beside the sofa, and although it was clear that he was joking, Katniss still gave him an admonishing look for his innuendo.
She silently pondered how he could even manage to joke so soon after what happened yesterday, but perhaps joking was Marvel's way to cope. Perhaps that is what he needed to do to deal with all of this.
"You know you didn't answer my question last night?" Katniss changed the subject. That was one of her ways to cope, trying to escape uncomfortable situations and seeking out solutions.
He rolled his eyes and stood up. "What question?"
"You could have just cosigned what Cato said." Katniss declared, before asking a different question "Aren't you two friends?"
Marvel scoffed, before giving out a short laugh. "If you stay here and keep asking questions, you and I will have to answer questions that I think you would rather not have."
He walked towards her and gripped her shoulders.
Katniss shuttered softly from the contact but didn't pull back as he turned her around and pushed her towards the door.