it's funny how we all have nothing
nothing really worthwhile to give
nothing really worthwhile at all
except the rhythm in our chests
but that could be enough to last a lifetime

Carloman Longstaff (18)

District Four

a month ago

"Turn the fucking music up! Turn—the fucking—"

The wind was knocked out of Carlo as someone barrelled straight into him. Suddenly he was surrounded by sand and laughter, and if it weren't for the fact that there was no oxygen in his lungs, he would be laughing right along with them.

"Who—? What the fuck?"

Eli grinned at him as he sat up enough to give Carlo a chance to scan his face. The moment he could breathe close to normally again, Carlo pulled him back down into a kiss, a hand on the back of his head to keep him close.

The music wasn't blaring loud enough on the beach. He could barely feel it in his bones while he was trying to make out with Eli and that wasn't good enough. So as soon as they pulled away, he let his hand trail across Eli's cheek as he stood up and started to walk away.

"Who's on the music? Who's even on the music?" he called out into the crowd, looking around at all of the people on the beach. Everyone's faces were painted orange by the firelight from the bonfire, and he didn't know how to push through the crowd enough to get to whoever the hell it was that thought that the music needed to go down. If the rest of the neighborhood was complaining, they just needed to get their asses down to the beach.

Yue crashed into his side, not as rough as Eli had, and she grabbed his hand, holding it up into the air. "Everybody, get out of the way! It's the man himself!" she yelled, and it got through the crowd enough to see that Carlo wanted to get past them all. He grinned as everybody started hitting him on the back as he went past.

Once he got back to the speakers, he turned the music up to its original volume and then some. The person who had turned it down looked at him sheepishly—or he assumed it was that person who turned it down, from the look they gave him. He didn't even recognize who they were, but it was probably just one of the people who had taken the blanket invite he had thrown around at the Academy.

"Hey!" he called over to them. He started to walk toward them and their eyes widened, so he put on a smile and shook his head. "Hey, buddy, c'mere!"

The person reluctantly stayed where they were until he was over to them. He put an arm around their shoulders and looked out at all of the people on the beach, dancing around the fire, taking a dip into the water further down. He was pretty sure a couple people were skinny dipping. Combine that with the drinking and smoking going on and he really hoped everybody there was at least seventeen or eighteen. He'd told everybody he'd kick their asses out if they were younger and tried to come.

"Too loud?" he asked them over the sound of the music, which he could now feel reverberating through him. This was what a party felt like to him.

They nodded, so Carlo started to bring them further down the beach. They probably couldn't see from where they were standing, but there was an area closer to the back where people were still having a good time, but the music wouldn't be right in their ears. And one of his boyfriends was over there, so he knew that this guy would have a good time. Once they were back there, Carlo shoved him playfully toward the people back there, and the person gave him an awkward thumbs-up.

"You have fun down here," he said. "Let me ruin my hearing up there in peace!" He grinned and turned around, going back up to the heart of the party.

The bonfire was burning bright and hot now, standing up almost as tall as him and flickering all around. There was a little bit of fencing around the fire to make sure none of the people who got drunk would stumble into it, and the firewood to add into it was lined up on the inside of the fencing to protect them even further.

This may have been the biggest, wildest party he'd ever thrown for his birthday—he was legal now, after all—but he'd be damned if everybody wasn't going to come out of it just the way they'd arrived, if potentially hungover.

He walked toward the house on the edge of the beach. He hoped he would bump back into Yue soon, but there were over a hundred fifty people there if he had to guess. There was just no wading through the crowd, even with a lot of them spread out between her place, the bonfire on the beach, and the water.

"Hey, Carlo," someone said once he was in her yard. He looked over and saw one of his boyfriend's friends, Dante. He grinned at the guy and went over to him. "Hey, man, happy birthday!"

"Thanks," he said gratefully. Half the people here were only distantly aware that it was his birthday. He didn't care—this was a party for the sake of a good time more than it was a party to celebrate him. It made the birthday wishes seem a little more sincere anyway. "Hey, have you seen Eli or Mako around? Or Yue?"

Dante paused for a moment, thinking. The drink in his hand tilted to the side a little bit as he did, so Carlo assumed he'd already partaken a good bit. He reached over and righted the cup before it could spill, and the guy grinned at him. "Thanks. But uhh… I think I saw Yue and Eli over inside. Yeah, they're inside."

He nodded. "Have a good time, bud!" he called back to him as he went inside.

Most of the people who weren't out on the beach or in Yue's yard were getting something to eat or drink, or were just chilling out. Her house wasn't overly big, but it was worth it for its proximity to the beach. Because of its size, though, most of the people had found their spots on the floor to get comfortable. A lot of them were smoking and laughing together. Seeing all of them together and having fun—that was what this shit was for. He saw his weed guy over on the couch passed out. After he found Yue he would take the guy upstairs to get some rest in peace.

Yue was in the kitchen pouring a drink out for Eli and Arturo, who were both sitting up on the counter, holding hands. He went over to his best friend and grabbed himself a cup for her to pour him something, since his last one had been lost when Eli tackled him. "Hey," he said, smiling at her. "You having fun?"

She nodded and handed him his cup when it was full. The beer wasn't great, but he was tipsy enough that he didn't care. He just wanted to enjoy the night. "You're going to be having an even better time when you hear who's showing up," she told him, and then began walking away to leave him hanging. He considered going after her, but Eli and Arturo grabbed at the back of his shirt and tugged him back over to them. So he turned around and faced them with a smile.

"It's the victors," Eli told him.

"Isaac Welsh," Arturo added.

If Carlo didn't love all of his boyfriends to death, he would have deserted them on the spot. Isaac fucking Welsh was coming to his party. The Victors' Village was just across the street, right on the beach like Yue's house, so he knew that they'd be able to hear it going on. The only one of them over twenty-four was his mom, so he wasn't concerned with what they thought. He had just wondered if any of them would actually show.

He was mostly concerned with Isaac Welsh showing up.

"I've got to talk to him," he said. The only thing holding him back was the fact that he'd been living in the same neighborhood as the guy for six years since he first won, and still hadn't had a real conversation with him once. He was only four years older than Carlo, and easily the hottest victor to ever come out of the Hunger Games. And it was no secret that he was just as open as Carlo was.

"You'll have plenty of time to talk to him when he's your mentor," Arturo told him. He hopped down from the counter and pressed a kiss against Carlo's lips. He returned it, his eyes sliding shut. Even with Isaac Welsh wandering somewhere around there, he couldn't be separated from the moment when a very handsome guy was pressed up against him. When they pulled away, Arturo added, "I heard in the Academy the other day that he's definitely going this year."

It would be the first year his mom didn't mentor since she won, then. He knew that she hadn't planned on it, but he hadn't heard much about the decision since she told him it would be someone else sending him off into the arena. It was enough that she had pushed him this far, she said. He had assumed that Luis or Josie would step up to the plate. He was close with Josie, actually. She had the house right next door to the Longstaffs, and he had always assumed she would be taking up the task to send her little nuisance into the Games.

But Isaac Welsh? He couldn't complain about that. The man was an icon in the Games, and Carlo was dying to get to know him. Now that he was eighteen, he had hoped he would find it in himself to talk to him. But as of yet it hadn't happened.

Eli hopped down from the counter and waved at them as he went back toward the front door. Carlo glanced at the couch and remembered that his weed guy was still over there, passed out, so he looked to Arturo. "Wanna help me get Guy upstairs?" he asked.

They went over to the couch and Carlo picked Guy up. He didn't really need Arturo's help carrying him, but he wanted to spend time with him anyway. With all of the people at the party, it was nearly impossible to spend any meaningful time with any one member of the group of guys they all affectionately referred to as Carlo's harem. He didn't know why he'd been picked as the "owner" of the harem, though. The real star of every party was Guy with the weed, and Mako with his sense of humor. But he supposed since he was the most well-known, as Talisa Longstaff's son, most people assumed they were all following him around.

"So how are you doing, Carlo?" Arturo asked him as he trailed behind him on the stairs. It was even quieter as they went up here, the laughter and conversations of the people high off their asses downstairs only barely drifting up with them. "Good birthday?"

He looked back at him and nodded. It would be a good birthday even if only a handful of people showed up, but with everyone there, it would be impossible to not have fun. Unless somebody too young showed up, or a fight got started. But so far it seemed like no one was going to do anything stupid within a certain radius of his mom's house.

"I heard Walt started the stripping down at the beach," Arturo told him, a chuckle in his voice. Carlo grinned and shook his head. Walt was the most promiscuous of everyone in their group of boyfriends, which was really saying something in comparison to some of them. "He and Mina Winelin left twenty minutes ago to go back to her place."

Mina Winelin was about the only person in the world who could make Walt calm down for a moment. The two had been flirting for weeks, and he always said that the only thing that would make him leave their "harem" was a declaration of love from her. And now it seemed like that was sort of what he was getting. "Good for him," he said. The casual members like Walt never weren't much of a disappointment when they left the group—only a good time while they were part of it. He was closest with Arturo and Eli.

"Gonna miss his breakfast in the morning, though," Arturo noted.

That would be a disappointment. With all of the bullshit he flung around, Walt was a damn good cook. Other than the good heart Carlo knew was there behind all the sex and shit, and his good looks, it was his most redeeming quality.

He went into his room. Since Yue lived so close to home, a lot of the time he just crashed at her place rather than bothering to deal with his parents. As such, he had his own room in her house. He laid Guy down on the bed, pulling a blanket over him. He stirred for a moment, looking around blearily, before shrugging and going back to sleep. Carlo laughed and turned around, shutting the door behind him quietly.

"I know I'll have time with Isaac later," Carlo told Arturo apologetically, "but if I don't talk to him now, this is going to be the biggest mistake of my life."

That was way an over-exaggeration, but coupled with some playful puppy eyes, he knew that Arturo would have no hard feelings for ditching him for the hot victor milling around somewhere downstairs.

"Okay, but if I don't see you before I leave, love you," Arturo said, wiggling his fingers in a dorky wave.

Carlo grinned, giving him one last kiss. "Love you, buddy. If you're not feeling the drive home, you'd better park your ass somewhere in this house, though."

"Gotcha. Go have fun."

He worked his way through the rest of the people, some of them stopping him to say hi, and finally he was back out in Yue's yard. Everything kind of felt fake when he was in the house, the music thumping outside distantly and the people all much more subdued, but outside he felt like he was really back in the mix. People walked past him everywhere, although the crowd was thinning out a little bit the later it got. He was sure some of these people weren't meant to be going to his party and would be in deep shit if they were found out. But he didn't get why their parents would care what a bunch of mostly eighteen-year-olds did out on the beach. His mom and dad had never given a shit.

Yue was soon next to him, laughing and grabbing his hand. He didn't question where she was taking him, but he kept his eyes out for Isaac as he laughed to whatever she found funny. Yue was contagious like that: when she was rowdy and fun, everyone else had a good time. When she was laughing, everything became funny. When she was sad, it was a race against time to pinpoint why, because that wasn't what anybody wanted at all.

"Did Arturo and Eli tell you?" she asked when she pulled him over to the bonfire.

He turned and focused on her. "Yeah," he said over the music and talking. "Where the hell is he?"

"Now, remind me again. Which 'he' is this?" she joked, knowing she was only prolonging his suffering. Every moment he wasn't finding Isaac now was pure torture. What kind of host would he be without properly welcoming the finest victor in District Four? "Luis or Mr. Welsh?"

"Oh, shut up," he said, nudging her.

She punched him in the arm in retaliation, hard, and he wondered for the millionth time why her strength was never utilized for the Games. Last year was her last chance and she hadn't bothered to volunteer. Yue and the Longstaffs weren't ones to really give a shit about who went during free-for-all years, so he had always assumed that his best friend would be leaving him and coming back a victor a year before he did. But she instead had chosen to stay in District Four. It was weird to him, but not worth bothering himself over.

She pointed a finger into the crowd, and once his eyes had scanned through about everyone in that vicinity, they finally rested on Isaac Welsh. Isaac Welsh, with the strong jaw, the deep brown eyes, the gorgeous smile. Isaac Welsh in swim shorts with absolutely no shirt in sight, and abs so defined they made Carlo dizzy. He kissed Yue on the cheek and then skirted around the fence next to the bonfire. Someone who seemed sober enough was tossing some more wood in, and he patted them on the back gratefully as he went past. He didn't have time to focus on their fire right now.

Isaac caught his gaze before he was over to him, and a little smile appeared on the twenty-two-year-old victor's face. "Well, if it isn't the chosen victor!" he shouted as soon as Carlo was within earshot. A few people around him looked over at them, all of them in awe of his presence. Not so much of Carlo's yet, but he'd be there by this time next year.

"If it isn't my mentor," Carlo answered, reaching out to shake his hand. God, his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, you're kind of waking all of us up," he said, grinning as they gave each other a polite shake. "But it seems like this is the place to be."

"I hope so!" he said, nodding.

Oh, fuck. I hope so? What the hell was that? Isaac was too powerful. He was obviously some kind of god of love, and his appearance was everything that Carlo found hot. He was sucked in by his greatness. It didn't help that in every interview he'd ever seen, and every time he'd ever briefly interacted with the guy, he was the most charming person in the world.

"How do you feel about volunteering in less than a month?" Isaac asked him, his eyes alight. Carlo would be the first person he mentored. Along with whoever his district partner was, of course. If he brought home a victor, he might just be chosen as the mentor over his mom should she ever wish to go back to it. So this year was pretty important for him, if this was what he wanted to be doing.

"Pretty good," Carlo said.

He did, too. He was at the best point of his training he'd ever been at, and he was ready to do this for his mom. It was his last chance, and it was all she'd ever wanted out of him since he was old enough to go into the Academy with her. His little sister had started getting excited about it, too, and the little kid in him got just as excited as she did when she asked which house he would pick when he won. There was one a few houses down from Isaac's, down at the end of the neighborhood. It was big and a gentle green, and closer to Yue's house than where he lived now. His eye had been on that one.

"Isaac!" the familiar voice of Luis Barnes called. Luis motioned for him to come over there, so Carlo stepped back to show he didn't mind if he left the conversation.

"I'll see you around, Mr. Chosen Victor," Isaac said with a wink, and then he disappeared into the crowd.

If there was any sturdy wall nearby to dramatically lean against, he'd already be there, his head leaned back and his eyes staring up at the sky as he contemplated Isaac Welsh.

Well into the wee hours of the night, everyone who hadn't already dissipated around eleven started to leave the beach. The bonfire went way down, and most of the people left were sitting around it, talking and telling stories. Those inside were doing much the same, but quieter for those who had decided to stick around at Yue's overnight to save themselves a dangerous drive home.

Carlo said goodnight to everyone when he felt like he was about to pass out standing up if he didn't make it to a bed. He made his way upstairs and into his room. Guy was still there at the edge of the bed, and spread out in the rest of the bed was also Mako and Eli. It seemed Arturo had left. Carlo got out of his clothes and into something more comfortable for bed, something that didn't have salt water and a bit of spilled beer soaked into it.

Yue came up behind him and turned him around before he could collapse in bed with the other guys. She smiled and tugged him by both hands into her room. Her girlfriend wasn't there, surprisingly, but that was okay with him. It meant it was time for a Yue Talk.

They laid down on her bed and got under the covers. She switched her light off and Carlo's eyes fell shut. For a moment it seemed like they were just going to sleep like that, without talking, and Carlo wasn't upset about that. He had had a long night—a good one, but still undeniably a long one.

But just before he slipped away, she whispered like anyone would be able to hear them through the walls, like it was a secret at all. "I love you, Carlo."

He smiled, not bothering to open his eyes. "What would I do without you, Yue?"

"Not have a house to party at, that's for sure," she reminded him.

It was quiet for a little bit again, but Carlo wasn't as tired now. He couldn't keep his mind clear. This would probably be his last big party before the reaping, although not even his last few weeks of training for the Games could keep him away from spending time with his friends. He'd never really been close with his parents, although he had a soft spot for his sister. But friends were what mattered. People like Yue, the three in his bed, meeting people like Isaac Welsh—even if he wasn't born and bred for the Hunger Games, they would give him purpose.

"Are you going to miss me while I'm in the arena?" he asked Yue quietly. He knew what her answer would be, of course, but he didn't care. It wasn't about not knowing.

Yue reached out and took his hand, bringing it to the space in the bed between them. He opened his eyes and looked at her shadow in the dark. The moonlight wasn't enough for him to really see her, but he knew her blonde curls and hazel eyes well enough that he didn't need light.

"Carlo, I'm going to miss you like hell," she said, her voice amused at the question. "I can't say the same for everybody else, though."

He laughed and shook his head, burying his face halfway in her pillow. "No, I guess I'm a lot."

"You are in fact," she agreed, squeezing his hand. She let go and turned away from him, shifting so she had some of the blanket bunched up in her arms. It was a damn good thing her comforter was big, he thought as he drifted off.

it's the man. the myth. the legend. The Fucking Meme Man.

yah so there's like 3 (technically 4?) plots: the y'know. Games Plot. then the Romance Plot. and then... the Meme Plot. bc yeehaw. and then there's the intermissions, which will start next chapter and there will be another one after d9

also another note for how shit's goin down. i'm moving natalia's chapter to be after the intermission chapter once i have that written so that everything is in order. that means that chapter 2 will suddenly be chapter 11 or whatever. and in chapter 2's place i'll just put some random bullshit so as not to lose the reviews & shit. it'll probably just be a writing exercise that fits the tone & is in the hunger games universe so that it's not completely irrelevant but also doesn't throw off the flow.

also another couple of notes: yue is pronounced you-eh like yue from avatar the last airbender bc Icon. also i wanna make it very very clear in case it wasn't already that carlo isn't cheating on any of his boyfriends, nor are any of them cheating on him. he's just in a very, very open relationship. with several guys. he's like that. also carlo is from my buddy ash

let me know what you thought of the chapter & carlo! chapter question: how do you think everybody is gonna react to this absolute thor-like chad frat boy bastard that carlo is?