A/N: Here's chapter two—just so ya'll know, the story was originally written as one big story without chapters, so I'm trying to find natural breaks to divide this up in, haha. Hope you all like it!

"I get that." I say, trying to think of a topic. "So, we're talking and yet you're sitting a good ten feet from me." ~

"I'm not moving." This is where my stuff is. If it gets too cold, I have my sleeping bag. I'm not leaving that warmth to go sit next to him and talk to him like we're childhood friends. We're not. "Not moving, sorry." ~

I sigh, standing. "Jeez, lazy." I go over and sit a foot or so away from him, not getting too close. "I never said I wouldn't move." ~

"And I never said you could sit next to me." I scoot away about six inches as a joke. "Anyway...you seem pretty set on dying. Are you even trying to win?" ~

"I'm trying to make it as far as I can." I say. I won't mention why. "But I know I'm not winning." ~

I groan again. Why the hell did I have to choose to stay awake and talk to this pessimistic little bitch? "That's no way to talk." I decide to play nice for now. "If you thought like me, maybe you'd have a chance." ~

"I can't think like that. Besides, I'm not nearly strong enough.".~

"...No..." I draw out, looking at his arms. You can't really see much since he has his jacket on, but I remember them from training. They weren't too bad. "You seem strong enough." ~

"Me?" I scoff. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm nothing in comparison to most of the tributes here. It shows in the scores." ~

"You got an eight, didn't you?" I distinctly remember him getting an eight. That's a pretty decent score for someone from District Twelve. "That's not a bad score, you know." ~

"No, I know that. But at least five got better scores. I won't try to win because I'd honestly rather not go home." ~

This is the first time I'm actually hearing of someone not wanting to go home. He would rather die here than go back home. I know life in District Twelve must be pretty hard, but damn. "There are twenty-four of us. And only five did better than you. That isn't bad. And...you should try to go home." He tells me he won't give me his sob story, but he does it anyway. ~

"Here and home are both hellish..but at least this has an end." I look at him. "I don't want to give you my life story, because I know you really don't care." ~

I look up at the sky and sigh. "There's nothing to do right now. We can't go hunt for other tributes since they," I nod my head in the direction of the others, "need their beauty sleep. So I wouldn't mind hearing a little bit, but you don't seem to want to talk to me about your life, so...what else can we talk about?" His company is fine with me. ~

"Maybe another time." I look over at the others. "Did you know her," I begin, referencing Clove, "before the Games?" ~

"Um, yeah, kinda." Clove was intense at school. She's four years younger than me, so I wouldn't see her much, but I saw what she could do. There was actually one time where I considered having a thing for her, but I pushed it away because she's only fourteen. That's a little too young for me right now. It's a good thing, too, because now I won't have to worry about only one of us making it out. "I talked to her a few times, but we weren't close or anything. But lately, she's been attached to me at the hip. It's nice to finally have my personal space back." ~

"She definitely has a thing for you." I say, trying to be casual with the whole "guy talk" thing, when really, the whole conversation is just making me jealous. Why would I be jealous of her? Jeez. ~

Great. It's that obvious? "Everybody does." I smirk. "But I wouldn't get with her. I think that would be illegal." ~

"Don't be smug. Not everybody." I laugh a little at his smirk. "And it probably is, though I don't think she cares." ~

"Nope, everyone who talks to me enough eventually falls for me being a charming bastard. You see how Clove is," I whisper. "But I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm really just a bastard." ~

"Well, I'll start this by saying that I definitely haven't fallen for you." I lie flat out. But..that's irrelevant at the moment. "But I don't think you're just a bastard." I say to him. "I really don't think you're a bad guy, Cato." ~

"Good, don't fall for me." I laugh. "That would make two allies that I'd have hanging off my sides." He's lying. No matter what he says, I am a bastard. "Not a bad guy? I volunteered to kill other people my age in the bloodiest way possible. Keyword: volunteered. And I'm not bad?" ~

I look into the trees, shivering again. "No, I don't think so." I glance over at him, then look away again. "That's all you've ever known was right. You seem like a pretty cool guy." ~

"I guess so." All of the victors told us how great the Hunger Games are. They flaunt their winnings all the time. And they also tell us how satisfying it feels to kill another tribute. "When I had my first kill, it didn't feel as good as I expected it to...is there something wrong with me?" ~

"That just proves you're not a bad guy." I look over at him, taking in his features from the moonlight. "There's nothing wrong with you at all. Quite the contrary, actually." ~

"Thanks." I say with my always sarcastic tone. "You're alright." ~

"Like I said, anything is really an improvement." I sigh, joking. ~

"Being friendly with me is not an improvement." I warn him. "I'm reckless as hell. I could probably accidentally get everyone here killed. You know, mishot arrows, dropping knives everywhere, slicing people's sides open with a sword...why do you think they made you carry everything?" ~

"Because I'm otherwise useless?" I say, staring into the trees. "I thought that out of all was the most obvious." ~

His self-hatred is really starting to bother me now, so I just don't say anything. I don't agree or disagree that he's useless. I just leave him be for the next few minutes. When the silence gets to be too much to take, I say, "Listen, I don't know about everyone else, but I don't hate you. The only thing really annoying about you is your whining." ~

I laugh a little inwardly. "You just happened to be here to hear my venting...Thanks, though." I look up at him, and while he isn't looking at me, I allow my eyes to wander over his body.

Ahem. Just thinking about it all makes my cheeks get a little red, and I start fidgeting with my hands. ~

"Well, I suppose it's my turn now?" I ask, looking back to him. ~

"Go ahead. We've got lots of time." I really want to know more about him, and I'll take any opportunity I can get. ~

"I think you're the only person who isn't afraid of me." He's willingly having a casual conversation with me. I could very be planning his death as we speak...I'm not, though, because that would only prove that I should be feared and that I am heartless. "No one else in their right mind would even consider talking to me like this. Not even them." I point my thumb over to the others. "They're with me because they have to be. They're capable of killing, but they don't want to get on my bad side. But you..." I don't finish my thought. Instead, I just make eye contact with him for the first time in a while. He should be able to finish it for me. ~

"I'm here because I want to be." Oh, wow Peeta, that sounded really gay. "What I mean is...That I'm not afraid of you. It's like I said-I really don't think you're a bad guy." Nice attempt at a recovery, but don't expect it to be overlooked. That in addition to the blush on your face when he made eye contact with those perfect blue-green eyes. You're lucky it's dark. ~

My eyes narrow at his awkward jumble of words. "And I'm not afraid of you...well, actually, I don't think anyone is. You seem harmless." He wants to be here? Okay then. That's a first. ~

Okay, good. Maybe he didn't notice anything. "I bake. I didn't expect anyone to take me seriously anyway, even if I was a threat." I laugh to break what could be an awkward moment. "I mean, seriously. A sixteen year old baker from District Twelve? They all think I'm a joke." I try to play it cool. ~

"Yeah, they all think you're a joke now. Until you beat them to death with a rolling pin or a whisk." He laughed before, but I can't help thinking that he was being serious about them thinking he's a joke. "After all, those are the most lethal things I've ever seen in the arena." ~

"If you've got brute force, the rolling pin could be effective, but it's the whisks you've really got to worry about." I turn and give him a smile. "You don't know what can be done with a whisk if you know how to use it." ~

"I've got to worry about?" I laugh. "I don't know about you, but I'm not about to be taken down by some baking utensil. Or at least, not without a fight." ~

"If I happen to find one, you'll definitely have a problem on your hands." There it is. His laugh again. I find myself spacing out for a moment thinking about it. There's so much more to him. I know it. I've just got to dig it out. ~

I let out a gasp. "Are you saying that if you had a chance, you would beat me to death with a whisk? Even after I promised that if it came down to it, I'd let you go with the least painful death imaginable?" ~

"You never promised." I point out. "But no, I'm not saying that. I..." I allow myself to be honest. "If it came down to it, I couldn't kill you. And even if I was capable...I wouldn't." Time to start thinking of reasons for this besides the aching feeling in my chest. ~

"And why is that? We're barely even friends." I guess if it came down to it, I wouldn't want to kill him either. But I have to. That's how the Games work. If either of us is going home, it'll be me. I wouldn't give myself up for anybody. No one is worth my life. ~

"Well...You're the closest thing I have to a friend, really. And you deserve it more. You've worked your entire life for this-why, I have no clue-but you have. And I got put here by accident." Yeah, accident. "You're the one who should make it out of here." ~

I'm the closest thing he has to a friend? Someone he only met yesterday, and may or may not have to end up killing him? That is honestly pretty sad. "I worked for this because I was supposed to. That's what we do in District Two. Whether we want to or not. Although, it's expected that you do want to." ~

"Well...didn't you?" ~

"I thought I did. I mean, I was really excited when I volunteered, and I couldn't wait to get here...but the first kill wasn't as awesome as I thought it'd be. I've found that I'm not really too good with killing." I admit. "I mean, I can kill, as you've seen...I killed about two singlehandedly already. But I don't exactly like it." Sighing, I look down at the ground. "If I have to, I will. But I don't like it. Just like you." ~

"We're more alike than either of us think. Even though we come from basically completely opposite worlds." I look to him. "I mean, I'm from the lowliest District, you live in the Capitol's lap. I saw your reaping-you had to fight other kids to be the volunteer. I, on the other hand, wanted someone to just kill me on the spot when they called my name." The moment flashes back in my head. "And yet, here we both are." ~

I still remember the Reaping. I, of course, was the first one to volunteer, and I literally fought for the tribute spot. Now, hearing about how some people, like Peeta, just wanted to die when they heard their name called...I feel guilty. Career Districts treat the others like a joke because for the outlying Districts, it's like a curse if you get reaped. We were raised to think it's the right thing, to volunteer. "I guess so. Here we are." ~

"But...You know, no matter what happens here, Cato...I'm glad we met." ~

His statement takes me by surprise. He's glad we met? "I'm not." I say simply, lying back down and staring up at the sky. How could he say that he's glad to have met the person who's very likely to kill him? It's better if we would have never met, honestly. I can't kill him now. ~

How can something so stupid hurt so much? Ugh, maybe he is just a jerk and I was seeing things through idyllic, boy-crush eyes. "...Alright then." I say, standing. "I'm going to let you get back to sleep." ~

"I didn't mean that in a bad way." I look over to Peeta, who is now standing. "I mean, you're good company, but...it probably would've been better if we hadn't met at all. That just makes it harder to kill you." ~

My heart skips a beat. Of course, I know he doesn't mean it in that way...not the way I do. But nonetheless. "If it makes it any easier, I'd want you to. Because I do want you to go home. Be a victor, live some awesome life, marry someone great, fall in love, the whole big deal." I don't turn around to look at him because I know the pain is evident in my face but not my voice. ~

"Fall in love?" I can't keep myself from laughing. "Who the hell would love me, anyway?" ~

Me.

Me! I want to shout.

Of course, I wouldn't.

I won't.

Not now, not ever.

Me. I'd fall in love with you.

But when I open my mouth to confess, all I do is laugh and say, "Don't joke, I'd bet there are girls falling all over you daily." ~

"There are. But I'm too good for them." I shrug. Most of them were annoying and would barely take the time to even try talking to me. Even Peeta's made it farther than them. ~

"Of course. No one's good enough for you, I suppose." ~

"Well, I wouldn't say that. Maybe I'll find her one day." ~

Her. Of course. I stay silent. ~

"But I won't waste my time looking. Love is a stupid, pointless thing." I've been getting along for eighteen years without it, so I think I can go another sixty or so. "I don't see what the big deal with it is." ~

"Don't you ever think there's something missing in your life?" ~

"Well, I'm kinda missing my mom's cooking right now. She makes the best cake." I laugh. "But other than that, not really...maybe. I don't really think about that much." ~

"You should've lived in Twelve. I made some pretty great cakes." I smile to myself before realizing I'll never get that chance again. "But really." ~

"Eh, maybe. But what about you? You said there's no way your girl-I mean, Katniss-feels the same way about you. You don't think she ever could?" ~

"Seeing as she shoved me and basically tried to strangle me after interviews...I'm going with no." ~

"What?" I nearly shout, almost possibly waking up everybody else. "She tried to strangle you? She can't do that." The Games hadn't even started and she tried to kill him. She could've been disqualified for that! Or at least, they would've made sure that she'd get blown to bits in the arena somehow. "And you still like her after that?" ~

"No, not really." I frown slightly. "Not like I did that much before anyway." I mutter quietly. ~

I was about to say something along the lines of, 'you'll find someone else eventually,' but I stop myself because what chance would he really get for that anyway? He could die any day now. "Sorry about that." Better luck next time? "I guess we're both alone, then." ~

"I...suppose." I look away. Together. We could be together. But you'd never love me. Never. ~

A/N: Reviews are SUPER APPRECIATED. :D xoxox