After the Games: The Careers
A collaboration by EMPG22HoPe and TheOceanspray99
Ill
"That's it! No more WebMD for anyone!"
Once the alarm clock on Cato and Glimmer's night stand played a catchy tune, the young couple decided to listen to some old 80's song before Cato pressed the snooze button with his large hand. "Morning, Ms. Gaze," Cato said at the flawless bombshell who was asleep on his chest.
Glimmer stirred slightly and opened one of her emerald eyes at him.
Cato smiled, "Nice to see you, sleepy-head."
Glimmer's flawless and perfectly pink lips started to move to say a cute-yet-witty comeback at him, but instead of her usual chirpy tone, Cato was greeted by a rather strained cough. "ACK!"
Cato wrinkled his nose slightly, no one in this planet would enjoy having someone cough on their face. "Thank you, Glimmer, I needed that." Sarcasm dripped from his words.
Glimmer coughed again, moving off her lover to not gross him out more that she already had. "ACK! ACK! ACK! ACK!" Her coughs sounded like the noise a shark/tiger cross-bred mutant.
Cato sat up, "Glimmer, are you all right?"
"Babe, I think I have a sore throat," an overly raspy, extremely strained, and obviously baritone voice said through Glimmer's mouth.
Cato's ice blue eyes widened a lot, "Glimmer? Is that you?"
The raspy voice didn't stop, "Of course it's me, who else would it be?"
"The devil," Cato answered.
Glimmer got out of bed and put on her robe, "Why are you so freaked out by this? Doesn't Brutus sound kind of like this?"
"Brutus isn't the person who I wake up to every morning," he stated as he followed his lover out of the bed. "If it was, then that'd just be creepy."
Glimmer couldn't help but chuckle a very freaky chuckle, "Yeah, Brutus doesn't really seem like your ty-" She was cut off when Cato put his hand over her mouth to silence her.
"Shhhhhhh..." Cato whispered. "You're gonna strain your voice more." This was the most polite way of saying, 'Shut up, Glimmer. Your voice scares the shit out of me.'
She nodded and whispered back, "Don't worry, I'm sure it's just for a little while." The voice sounded creepier when she whispered.
Cato made a face, "This is gonna be a long while."
After typing on her computer for a while, Clove finally managed to get the date she was looking for. She turned to her friend from the kitchen, "Glimmer! You might want to come here."
The blonde girl nodded, hopped off the couch, and walked to Clove.
"I typed in all your symptoms onto WebMD," Clove started once Glimmer was close enough. "I just got the results now."
"What does she have?" Marvel asked as he put some tea bags inside some mugs filled with hot water.
"Cancer," Clove answered.
Glimmer's green eyes widened, "I got cancer?" She closed the laptop, "That's it! No more WebMD for anyone!"
"Glimmer, I'm sure it ain't cancer," Marvel stated as he picked up the mugs, giving one to Clove before taking a sip himself.
Clove raised an eyebrow and looked down at the drink, "Marvel, do you know what this is?"
He nodded, "I believe it's very delicious tea."
Glimmer took a sniff of the tea, "Marvel, this is the tea I drink when I'm PMS-ing."
Marvel's eyes widened as his jaw dropped, letting the tea drop from his mouth right into the cup. He turned to Clove, "Can you go back to WebMD please?"
Clove nodded and opened her laptop again, "Coming up."
"While you two are looking at a bogus website, I'll just stand here and wonder how the hell I got a throat like this in the first place!" Glimmer wondered aloud.
Clove spoke up, "Well, I remember that my cousin got a voice like that after she worked at a kissing booth, maybe you kissed someone who was sick."
Glimmer shook her head, "That's impossible, the only person I've ever kissed is Cato."
"Are you sure about that?" Marvel asked, bringing question on how faithful Glimmer was to her lover.
Glimmer glared at him, "Trust me, Marvel, Me and my sisters worked hard to make sure no one in my family ended up a slut. Now shut up and keep drinking my PMS-tea."
Marvel handed Clove's now abandoned cup to Glimmer, "Maybe you should instead, it seems like that time."
Glimmer only scoffed, "Whatever."
Cato then came down the stairs and into the kitchen, his hair wet from his recent shower, "Hey, did you find out what's bothering Glimmer's throat?"
"Cancer," Clove answered.
Cato's jaw dropped, "Are you serious?"
Glimmer groaned, "Relax, Cato, she checked webMD instead of talking to a real doctor."
He sighed, "At least that's better than cancer."
"Clove here also thinks that I got this from kissing someone, but the only person I kiss lately is you," Glimmer added.
Cato nodded, "That makes sense. Last time I checked, I wasn't sick or anything."
"What fucked up her throat then?" Marvel asked.
"Well, we can count out the whole kissing thing, that's for sure," Cato stated.
Glimmer nodded, "True... Wait! Cato, remember last week?"
Cato thought for a second, "Yeah, I do." It then hit him, "Oh my god! It was that guy!"
Flashback to last week
Cato groaned as he stepped out of the dentist office, "Trust me, Glimmer, I am NOT coming back next month."
Glimmer followed him and held his hand as they started to walk down the street, "You have to, Cato. You'll get a fine if you don't. Seriously, you'll have to pay if you don't show up."
Another groan escaped Cato's mouth, "You know, going to the dentist is the main reason I had trust issues as a kid. They always said it wouldn't hurt, but it did!"
Glimmer chuckled and wrapped her arm around his, "Don't worry, Cato, if it hurts, I can come and hold your hand."
He glared at her, "I'm well over 18 now, Glimmer, I don't need someone to hold my hand."
"You were sobbing at one point," Glimmer pointed out.
Cato tried to stay a snappy comeback to defend himself, but he couldn't think of one considering the fact that he did in fact sob a little bit. He went with two magic words: "Shut up!"
Glimmer laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek as they continued to walk.
After 6 minutes of walking hand in hand, as 'Glato' turned a corner, they saw a very interesting sight. On the concrete sidewalk was what looked like a homeless man. It was weird, most Capitol people weren't homeless. This man, in fact, resembled a bloke one would see in district 12. He was slumped against a building as he sat with nothing in his hands with the exception of an empty paper coffee cup with a few coins in it. The words from his lips were the same: "Spare change? Spare change? Can anyone spare some fucking change all ready?"
As Glimmer passed this man, she couldn't help but feel empathy for this man. She may have been well-fed and healthy all her life, but this man most likely wasn't.
Cato noticed her staring at the man as they walked, "Anything up?"
"One second," Glimmer told as she grabbed a bill out of her pocket and ran up to the man.
He looked up at her with curious eyes.
Glimmer leaned down to get to his level, "This isn't much, but it's all I got." She put the bill in the cup.
The man looked at it and smiled, "I thank you very much, bless your soul."
"No problem," Glimmer said with a friendly grin.
Cato looked at the interaction and felt lucky, he probably had one of the kindest girl's in the world to call his girlfriend.
Glimmer was about to stand up straight, but her movement was stalled when the man grabbed her blouse collar and pulled her lips to his to force her into an extremely unexpected kiss!
Glimmer let out some gibberish in pure shock as she tried to pull away, but that man had a pretty good grip on her. Besides having a good grip, that man also had quite a tongue. It wasn't that pleasant though.
The kiss didn't last for long though, because instantly, Cato gave that man the best punch he could ever give.
POW!
The man was knocked out cold after that.
Glimmer sighed in relief and got up, "Thank you."
Cato looked at the knocked out bloke with jealous eyes, "Don't even think about doing that again, asshole!"
Glimmer took Cato's hand again and coughed a bit, "Come on, lets get home."
He nodded and started to walk, "You all right, baby?"
She wiped off her lips, "Yeah, I think so. Why the hell would he do that?"
Cato only shrugged, "I really don't know, this city is insane."
End of Flashback
"Oh yeah..." Cato said in agreement. "Yeah, it was probably him."
"Wait, if this thing gets passed on by kissing, then how come Cato doesn't have it?" Clove wondered. "You guys literally kiss all the time."
"It's normal if my voice gets low," Cato explained. "I'm a guy, and I don't recall any girls who sound like they've smoked cigarettes all their life!"
"I'm sure I won't be stuck like this for a while," Glimmer predicted. "Sore throats don't last that long."
"I guess you'll be pouring tea down your throat all week," Clove stated with Glimmer's nod.
"I like tea, I like it a lot," Glimmer added
Marvel chuckled a bit, "Tea isn't the only you like to pour down your throat."
The boy with spears was then awarded with a punch from the girl with glitter.
A few days later...
Glimmer had yet another cup of tea in her hands, her third one today. She sat beside Clove as they watched some crappy reality show on the television.
"Clove, do you think that I might be sounding like this forever?" Glimmer asked to her best friend.
Clove looked back from the telly, "I don't know, but honestly, I like your voice like this. It's less chirpy and annoying. And plus, we pranked called Cashmere 5 times thanks to raspy-Glimmer. Raspy-Glimmer is marvellous!" Her eyes then widened, "I think saying that means that I'm officially Marvel's girlfriend now."
Glimmer let out a scary-sounding chuckle, "Weren't you always?"
Clove shrugged, "Not sure, it was more like dating, and kissing, and pretty much just that without much attachment. But I suppose at this point that it's officially more serious."
The blonde girl nodded, "Good to know." Glimmer took a deep, rumbling sigh, "Do you think that I'll be stuck like this forever?"
Clove shrugged once more, "I seriously doubt that sore throats last that long."
Glimmer tucked her knees up to her chest, "But really! What if I am? I doubt I sound adorable in this voice."
"You're voice was never adorable in the first place," Clove mumbled under her breath.
Obviously, Glimmer heard that because Clove got a rather scary looking glare afterwards.
Clove did her best to shake off the glare's effects, "Don't look at me like that."
Glimmer only glared some more, giving her gaze the ability to instantly make someone uncomfortable.
"Please stop or I will punch your throat," Clove stated, not being afraid to use her fists since she sadly did not have a knife on her this moment.
"Are you uncomfortable?" Glimmer asked, her voice adding additional creep factor.
Clove nodded, "Yes, very."
Glimmer didn't stop her glare, "Then it's working."
Clove, staying true to her words, only shrugged and did what she said she would. The girl with knives raised her fist and aimed a well-projected blow right at the blonde's throat.
POW!
Glimmer couldn't yelp in pain considering the spot where she was hit, instead, the sound that came out of her mouth sounded like a toad being put into a blender if someone added autotune to the noise. It did not sound human and probably didn't have a grammatically correct way to spell it out.
The punch was pretty strong, and it make Glimmer fall off the couch and onto the floor, landing with a thud.
Clove's eyes widened, "Shit... Sorry! I only meant to shut you up!"
As Glimmer pried herself from the ground, Cato and Marvel ran downstairs. "We heard a noise, is it the apocalypse?" Marvel asked in a slightly worried tone.
Cato, of course, ran to Glimmer's side, "Babe, you okay? What happened?"
Glimmer sat herself up and spoke, but what came out of her mouth was surprising.
Her voice, it was... normal.
"Clove punched me because I was giving her the crazy eyes again," Glimmer explained in a wince, rubbing her pained throat.
Everyone in the room gasped as if their lives were suddenly a bad soap opera.
"Holy shit..." Clove said, looking down at her fist to see if it had anymore magical qualities.
Glimmer raised an eyebrow, "You guys are looking like me as if I died and came back to life, what's up?"
Marvel's eyes were wide, "Glimmer, listen to your voice."
"My voice? What? Does it sound worse than before?" It took Glimmer 12 seconds to realize that her voice was back to normal. "OH MY GOD! MY VOICE! IT'S BACK!"
In this world, fangirling, or freaking out over something simple, was not invented until this very moment, because Glimmer then started happily squealing random words in her normal tone and waving her hands around like an idiot.
Glimmer then got up quickly and hugged Clove rather tightly, squealing 'Thank you' over and over again.
Clove stiffened at the overly affectionate hug, "Okay, you're welcome, but no hugging or the next punch is going to your head!"
Glimmer still didn't let go, making Clove groan like some sort of muttation.
"This calls for a celebration," Marvel said to Cato.
The taller boy nodded, "Okay, what do you reccomend? And it better not be a cup of Glimmer's PMS tea again, that was gross, man.
Marvel's reply to that was, "I regret nothing."
A/N: Can everyone give a round of reviews for TheOceanspray99 for writing this diving chapter. Thank you all for reading and we're sorry for the inconvenience of not updating much. School and life keeps getting in the way, the usual. Stay tuned for the next chapters coming this month!
LONG LIVE THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF CATO AND GLIMMER AND CLOVE AND MARVEL.
- EMPG22HoPe and TheOceanspray99