#and he was talking about how weird it is to decide who to tell and not that he’s sick

[weneeya]

pure adoration m.list | rules

pairing. dick grayson x reader

note. fluff and soft stuff in delivery! love him sm i couldn't help it so there you go :)

Dick was a fool for you, and everyone knew it pretty well. You could have done absolutely anything, even the worst thing possible, he would have found a way to defend you. In his eyes, you couldn’t do anything bad. You were too perfect for that. The prettiest girl he ever saw, the smartest he ever talked to ; you had the qualities a human could have and even more. It was easy to say that Dick was putting you on a pedestal. 

To his defense, you were actually really sweet. The type of person who helps others without asking for something in return, even if you had quite your own character. You weren’t afraid to say what was wrong, and if you had to fight, then you would never step back. You were everything Dick could dream of, even if your friends saw you as a pitbull sometimes. 

Dick didn’t have the bravery to ask you out on a real date. Yes, the Nightwing himself was scared of rejection from the girl he could have died for. So he kept on inviting you to go out together but always as friends and nothing more. Sometimes, he even told you to bring other people to not make it too weird ; even if he only had eyes for you. 

This time, it was only the two of you. You were sitting in front of him in the coffee shop, your hot drink between your hands as you were talking. He wasn’t sure if he was still listening to what you were saying or if the sound of your voice was simply soothing his mind ; but his gaze didn’t leave your face for a second. His cheek was resting in the palm of his hand and his eyes were observing every detail of your face. 

Suddenly, you stopped talking and it got him out of his thoughts almost immediately. “Is something wrong?” He asked you the second after, a hint of worry in his eyes. You sighed slowly as you looked away. “Sorry, I talk too much.” You told him and he swore he never saw you like this before. Who ever told you that? Not him, that was for sure, because he could have listened to you talking forever. Dick grabbed your hand in a gentle move, stroking the back of it. 

You met his eyes again, and you felt your heart skipping a beat at the look he was giving you. Since when did he look at you with so much adoration? You were sure you never noticed it before, but you couldn’t ignore it now. “It’s never too much. Please, talk all you want. I’ll listen anyway.” The soft smile that appeared on his lips after his words could have brought the tears to your eyes if you weren’t fighting them. Your grip on his hand slightly tightened before you nodded softly. 

“Thanks Dick,” you told him, and he left a kiss on the back of your hand as an answer. It caught you off guard, and you had some trouble going back to what you were saying after that. If one thing was sure, you wouldn’t be able to forget this look in his eyes for a while. 

After that day, you noticed all the little things that Dick was doing toward you, and you felt dumb for not noticing what was going on earlier. How he was always complimenting you on what you were doing, or how he always made sure that you were feeling comfortable about everything. He kept on taking care of you without being too intrusive and it broke your heart to think that he was probably sure that his feelings weren’t mutual. 

This is why you decided to talk to him. You asked him to come over at your place, and this is how you ended up sitting on your couch together. Dick looked at you, a bit worried. He could feel that something was off, but he didn’t know what it was. “You wanted to tell me something?” He asked, and you quickly nodded, turning around to face him. 

“Listen, I’ve thought a lot. About everything, but mostly about us, and we can’t…” He didn’t let you finish, his voice going out a bit more desperate than what he thought. “Did I go too far? I’m sorry, I’ll stop. But please, please don’t leave.” He took your hands between his and you didn’t expect this reaction from him. You slowly put your hand on his cheek, stroking it gently. 

“Hey, hey. Calm down, okay? I’m not going anywhere.” Your voice was so soft, like sweet music to his ears. He melted onto your touch, looking in your eyes as he waited for you to keep going with what you wanted to say. “I wanted to say that we can’t keep going like that, because I can’t stay your friend.” His grip on your hand got a little tighter but your gentle smile calmed all his worries. 

“I like more than that, Dick. And if you let me, I’d love to be more than your friend.” He was sure that he felt his heart stopping into his chest when you stopped talking. It was a dream, it couldn’t be otherwise. There was no way you were really saying those words to him. “Really..? You really want to be… my girlfriend?” He asked, and you only answered with a nod. 

You didn’t have the chance to say anything because Dick cupped your face with his hands so his lips could meet yours. It was so sweet, your lips feeling like honey against his own. When he let you go, you were quickly stuck into his embrace. He was holding you tightly, nose in your hair. “I’ll make you the happiest girl on Earth, just like you’re making me the happiest man alive.” His eyes met yours right after that, and the smile on his lips made your stomach do a flip. He really seemed to be the happiest right now. 

You sure took your sweet time to realize your own feelings, but now, you knew that nothing could make them disappear.

thanks for reading <3

[rockspider556]

THE OFFICIAL TEMP & PROBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR STATION 118

(Or: How to Survive the Most Dysfunctional Yet Effective Firehouse in the LAFD.)

Introduction

So, you’ve been assigned to Station 118. First off, we’re sorry. You must have angered someone in upper management.

If you’re reading this, you are either a temp firefighter, a probie, or you lost a bet. Regardless of how you got here, you’re in for an experience that will leave you questioning everything, including basic physics, firehouse professionalism, and whether two men can be so in love that an entire station just collectively decides to never say anything about it.

You will get attached. You will get confused. This guide is here to help you survive the madness.

Rule #1: Don’t Question it

Did you just see a firetruck jump a freeway divider? Did a firefighter just bench-press another firefighter for fun? Did the captain just predict an emergency call before it came in?

Yes. Yes. And absolutely yes.

It’s best if you just roll with it.

Rule #2: The 118 attracts weird calls- Accept this

You’ll see things. Terrible things. Confusing things. Things that should not be physically possible. Examples from past rotations include:

✅ Someone flushing a baby down the toilet

✅ A fighter jet in someone’s living room

✅ More natural disasters than statistically possible

✅ Situations so baffling even Bobby Nash, the most experienced firefighter here, will have to take a deep breath before dealing with them.

Just accept that this station is cursed and move on

(If you hear the words “raccoon” and “rescue” in the same sentence—walk away. We do not talk about the raccoon incident.)

Rule #3: If you cant find Buck, look for Eddie

If you can’t find Eddie, look for Buck.

If you can’t find either, follow the noise.

���� Loud crash? They’re there.

🔹 People shouting their names? They’re definitely involved.

🔹 Unnecessary heroics? Yep, that’s them.

Do not attempt to separate them. That is above your pay grade.

(Exception: If Bobby tells you to separate them, congratulations! You’re now part of the problem.)

Rule #4: If someone says “PROBIE, CATCH!” - DO NOT CATCH

Just duck- trust us

🔹 If Buck yells it, it’s already airborne.

🔹 If Chimney yells it, it’s a prank.

🔹 If Hen yells it, catch it and don’t ask questions.

🔹 If Bobby yells it… it’s probably too late.

Rule #5: Be nice to Christopher

Christopher is Eddie’s son. He is the unofficial mascot of the 118 and the only person who can tell Buck to shut up and have it actually work.

Christopher is amazing, and if you are even slightly rude to him, you will be immediately ejected from this station, either professionally or physically.

(Seriously. If Buck finds out you’ve upset Chris, you might just get yeeted out of the firehouse. You think we’re joking? We are not.)

Rule #6: Hen knows everything

You cannot hide anything from Hen.

If you did something embarrassing, Hen already knows.

If you have a dumb question, Hen will answer it—but with judgment.

If you think you can outsmart her, you are wrong.

Your best course of action? Accept your fate.

(Bonus Tip: If you ever need good advice—about firefighting, life, or avoiding Chimney’s latest scheme—ask Hen. She’s your best hope.)

Rule #7: Chimney is either your best friend or your worst nightmare

You will never know which until it’s too late.

If Chimney is laughing at you:

🔹 You fell for a prank.

🔹 You are about to fall for a prank.

🔹 Something ridiculous just happened, and Chimney has already made it his personal mission to bring it up forever.

Do not trust him if he says, “Hey, Probie, can you do me a favor?”

That’s how it starts.

(Exception: If Hen is also involved, run.)

Rule #8: The unofficial married couple energy is strong

They’re even co-parenting a child

At some point, you will witness the following:

🔹 Buck and Eddie bickering like they’ve been married for ten years.

🔹 Buck casually doing things for Eddie like an overenthusiastic husband.

🔹 Eddie rolling his eyes but secretly loving it.

🔹 A conversation that consists entirely of looks, and yet somehow they both understand exactly what’s being said.

Do not ask if they are together. Do not point out that they should be together. This has been an ongoing, slow-burn situation for years, and apparently, we’re all just waiting for them to figure it out.

(Side note: If Chimney is also in the room, he will absolutely narrate their moments like a nature documentary.)

Rule #9: Expect unnecessary displays of strength

Someone at 118 will, at some point, decide that carrying you, the ambulance, or possibly a full-grown cow is a totally normal thing to do. Don’t fight it. Just nod, say “Wow, that’s impressive,” and move on.

Rule #10: Never underestimate Bobby

Captain Nash is somehow aware of everything at all times. If you break a rule, he already knows. If you get involved in nonsense, he saw it coming. If you think you’re being sneaky, you’re not.

Just be honest. It’s easier for everyone.

(Exception: If Buck tells you to do something, assume it is not captain-approved and proceed with extreme caution.)

Rule #11: You will never be the “Alpha” here

It doesn’t matter how strong, fast, or experienced you are. The 118’s hierarchy is absolute and was forged in a trial-by-fire (literally). The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be.

The pecking order usually goes like this:

🔹 Captain Nash – Sees all, knows all, somehow controls all.

🔹 Hen – The mom friend. Respected. Will roast you if necessary.

🔹 Chimney – The chaos gremlin. Somehow both responsible and unhinged.

🔹 Eddie & Buck – The human embodiment of “Do first, think later.”

🔹 Bobby’s Cooking – It has its own level of authority. Respect it.

🔹 You – The probie/temp.

(Note: If Bobby ever calls you by your full name instead of your nickname, start updating your résumé.)

Rule #12: You will not leave the same as you arrived

If you survive your rotation at the 118, congratulations! You will now find every other station shockingly boring.

Common side effects include:

✅ An instinctive sigh whenever you hear something crash, followed by, "What did Buck do?"

✅A strange desire to always check on Christopher, even though you are no longer responsible for him.

✅ Uncontrollable frustration that Buck and Eddie still haven’t figured it out.

✅ A deep, unshakable feeling that, despite the madness, you kind of miss it.

If you experience these symptoms, don’t fight it. You’ve been claimed by the 118.

🎉Welcome to the weirdest, most dysfunctional family in the LAFD. 🎉

And remember: If they ever actually kiss, you were here first.

May Bobby Nash have mercy on your soul.

[elodieunderglass]

Hello! I am obsessed with Killie and his terrible family. Please can you tell me more about Derek? Has he met Killie's family? Does he even like horses at all? Has he watched Killie race? What was his first time at the racetrack like? I'm too invested in them and the only source is you so please never stop talking about them

(In reference to Killie the jockey OC’s warmly normal boyfriend, Derek.)

Oh gosh! I won’t stop as long as you guys keep being interested!

Derek is lovely!

He’s just so comfortable with himself 🥰

His own parents are lesbians who teach at Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts, a sentence which conveys a full lifetime of information. One of his moms is trans, and Derek inherited early baldness from her. After transitioning, her hair started to come back, but she decided to stay bald on purpose (she’s so cool) and so Derek entirely forgets to be self-conscious about his own baldness. (He wears a beanie hat 9 months of the year, because the UK is a different kind of cold.)

His moms are warm and funny. They somehow always have one Newfoundland dog on the go (sometimes two half-Newfoundlands, which makes up one whole Newfoundland) usually overlapping with one other stupidly large dog. Their home is comfortable and kind.

With loving mothers and a normal family, it’s kind of hard for Derek to understand how Killie’s family works. With what he knows about Killie’s childhood and Charlie’s estrangement, Derek pictures their parents as being inherently monstrous. It’s especially hard for him to reconcile their dapper, charismatic dad as someone who would harm his own kids - disowning Charlie, pressurising Killie to the breakpoint, and having been physically abusive with them both. Part of Derek will always be hurt and confused by the fact that their father is charmingly good company; that he’s so clearly, radiantly proud of Killie; that he fucked Killie up so badly, and in a twisted way, loves him so much.

Their mother is an outright witch and an open weirdo, though. The stuff she says! She’s into conspiracy theories!

Derek is a taken aback by Killie’s younger sister Ciara, who is - to be fair - quite mean. With the best will in the world, it’s hard to form an opinion on Colm.

Derek meets them all as “Killie’s American friend” long before Killie’s ready to be out as a couple, because they’re often crashing around racetracks and can’t be avoided. Coming out to them all is terrifying prospect, but can’t be put off forever, since Derek basically decided to marry Killie within a few weeks of meeting him, and is only hanging back to give Killie some time to catch up. And also: massive visa issues upcoming. The clock is ticking for Killie to sort through his family issues, and put a ring on it!

Derek loves Charlie, though. I think technically Derek meets Charlie before he meets Killie.

Derek has zero familiarity and no good opinion of horses. He finds them a little freaky. There are moments where he starts to see what Killie means about them, and he can recognise the impressiveness of what Killie does with them, but he considers them to be huge weird aliens.

Killie works every day of the week, and ideally races every day. Derek watches when he can, and watches all the major races. They absolutely terrify him. It makes him nauseous to send Killie into battle wearing see-through underwear, a helmet like an eggshell, boots so thin that Killie can physically curl the toes of them, and a slightly padded vest. Like, that’s his only body. And this is his day job. And nobody sees anything weird about it. And sometimes he comes back with bruises and blood on his mouth, and his coworkers are all WORSE, and people die doing this, and what do you mean it’s a calling that you can’t conceive of living without, it’s just riding horses around in a big circle.

I love them 💖 they bring me comfort and joy. Thank you so much for asking.

[nobodysnowhere]

Late-night carpet ride

A How-To guide to giving poor Jamil a heart attack

Summary: A late-night carpet ride with our favorite sunshine

Cast: Kalim, gn reader

⊹ ︶⏝⭒ ⊹ ⭒⏝︶ ⊹

You find yourself surrounded by trees, their long branches seemingly reaching out to you.

‘Another dream?’

You continue walking, trying to find whatever this dream is trying to show you. Until you hear a girl scream.

You hurriedly rush over only to find a frightened girl and a Huntsman that’s kneeling in front of her begging for forgiveness.

‘Haven’t I seen this one once before?’

Despite that, you continue watching the scene unfold, having learned a while ago that trying to interact with anything here won’t have any effect.

The Huntsman tells the girl to hide somewhere far away because someone is incredibly jealous of her and will stop at nothing to get her out of the way.

The dream pivots towards the Witch that’s drinking a potion, to change her appearance.

And then you wake up.

⊹ ︶⏝⭒ ⊹ ⭒⏝︶ ⊹

You drowsily rub your eyes. You look towards the window and see that it’s still the middle of the night. A sigh escapes you as you reach for your phone, four more hours until you need to wake up

You kick your legs off the bed, mindful to not rouse the still sleeping Grim, not wanting to deal with a tired and grumpy dire beast.

The floors of Ramshackle are old and creak with every step, by now though you’ve learned which ones to avoid to not get any unwanted attention.

The last times you were too loud while getting a glass of water in the night you either woke up Jamil, who was ready to send you flying with a spell if he hadn’t noticed who was before him, or Rook who had the silliest old man sleepwear you could have imagined.

Safe to say you’ve learned your lesson and are now more mindful while going out into the kitchen at night.

As you walk up to the Kitchen you see a small light coming from inside.

You cautiously approach, wondering which of your friends decided to get a midnight snack, or more likely a glass of water. Everyone learned that last time a certain three someone tried to do that.

Turns out though it was Kalim. He doesn’t seem to have noticed you yet, so you softly knock on the doorframe to get his attention.

He flinches at the action, behaving like a child that was caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Oh, it’s just you. For a second I thought you were going to be Jamil.” Kalim says after he lets out a sigh of relief, letting the tension leave his body.

“He might still show up if we’re not careful.” you replied matter-of-factly.

“Good call. What brings you to the kitchen this late in the evening? Or would early be a better way to describe this?“ he asks tilting his head, while mumbling the last bit to himself.

“Oh… uhh I just woke up, Grim‘s talking in his sleep and was moving around a bunch so he woke me up.“ you decide to not tell him about the weird dreams, that would be a lot to unpack as well as something you don’t want to burden Kalim with.

The thought of those dreams scares you. You know those dreams about the great seven only appear if an Overblot was about to happen, and because these dreams were about the Fairest Queen, you could already guess who would be the one to Overblot this time, and you don’t feel ready to confront that reality yet.

Kalim looks at you as if expecting you to say more, after having been left to wait while you remembered those dreams and their implications.

“Why are you out this late?“ you skillfully bridge the gap after your pause.

“Ahh! Well… as the competition comes closer I feel more and more pressure to perform to the best of my ability, and I guess those jitters kept me awake tonight.“ he lets out a light-hearted chuckle as he rubs the back of his head.

“That’s understandable, but you need to properly rest if you want to perform to your fullest potential.“

“I know. The others just make it look so easy.“ he shakes his frustrations off and smiles at you. “They’re really cool right?”

“You guys sure are.” you give him an encouraging smile. “We should probably head back to bed if we don’t want to get lectured.”

Kalim nods in agreement, you grab yourself a glass of water before the two of you head back up to your rooms.

⊹ ︶⏝⭒ ⊹ ⭒⏝︶ ⊹

Back alone in your room you lie back down in your bed -or tried to-, as a still-sleeping Grim had decided it would be a great idea if he took up a third of the bed.

You gently move him towards the armchair, careful to not wake him. As you move him there he suddenly starts moving, worried that you woke him up you freeze, just to find out that he was settling himself in this new position, before continuing to sleep soundly.

You make yourself comfortable in bed, only to realize that you can’t seem to fall back asleep. You toss and turn, but nothing seems to work.

You start making peace with the fact that you won’t be sleeping any time soon until you hear a knock from your window. The same window that is on the second floor of the building.

Confused you climb out of bed and open the curtain to look who or what could be knocking on your window.

As the curtain gets pulled to the side you realize that it’s Kalim, sitting on his magic carpet.

He excitedly waves at you and motions for you to open the window. You do as you give him an inquisitive smile, letting the chilly air into the room. “What are you still doing up? I thought you wanted to sleep?”

“The same as you, I’d say. I came to ask if you’d like to join me for a late-night carpet ride?” he smiles brightly as he reaches out his hand to you.

“For how long do you plan on staying outside? Have you left a note in case Jamil decides to check up on you while we’re out?” you rightfully inquire before taking his hand.

He hesitates for a moment, seemingly trying to remember if he did put up a note. “Yes, I’m pretty sure I did. So? What do you say?”

You observe that he’s still in his pajamas, so before you step onto the carpet, you reach for the blanket from the armchair and climb out of the window with his help.

He holds your hand tightly as you step onto the carpet, to make sure you don’t accidentally fall off.

As you sit down beside him, he begins to skillfully maneuver the carpet to fly away from Ramshackle.

As you sit beside him you begin to notice the chill of the night air. You decide to drape the blanket over the both of you, but it isn’t as big as you thought it was, so you have to lean in closer to him to get the most out of the small blanket.

Kalim looks at you surprised, before giving you a bright smile. “Thanks! You really thought of everything.” he says chuckling, the tips of his ears turning red.

“It’s no problem. Wouldn’t want you catching a cold so close to the competition.” you answer him with a smile of your own.

He turns back to maneuver the carpet, flying all around the school campus and the surrounding area.

You take the time to get a closer look at him. The moon is illuminating his white hair, letting his smile shine so much brighter because of it.

You can feel the blush creeping up your cheeks, feeling awkward after having stared at him for a while for no apparent reason you decide to divert your attention toward the sky.

You don’t recognize any of the stars in the sky. No North Star guiding you the way or even the Big Dipper. None of those exist here. Another painful reminder that you don’t belong here, you don’t even know the most basic facts of this world.

Kalim seems to notice your distress, as he bumps his shoulder against yours. “Do you recognize any of these constellations?”

You avert your eyes, looking towards the ground below before shaking your head.

Kalim slows the carpet to a halt. “Would you like me to point some out for you? I’m not the best at astronomy but I know the most important ones!”

You take a close look at him, he seems unsure, but willing to try to make you feel better. You give him an appreciative nod, before lying down on your back, to better look up.

Kalim soon follows suit. He starts out a little unsure, but as he goes on he gets more and more confident about his knowledge.

You comfortably listen to him letting his voice and the soft swaying of the carpet lull you to sleep.

It takes Kalim a moment to realize that you have fallen asleep, but once he does he begins to feel the pull of sleep get to him as well.

So he quickly flies the carpet back towards Ramshackle. He steps back into your bedroom through the window.

He gently places you onto the bed, as he turns to leave for his own room, he feels a tug at his sleeve.

Your delirious and more than half-asleep self pulls at the clothing piece to get him to join you in bed.

After a bit of hesitation, he lies down beside you, with a respectable distance between the two of you, he takes the hand that was holding his sleeve into his own while giving you a bright smile.

You give a satisfied smile of your own before finally falling asleep, soon joined by Kalim, who keeps your hand in his the entire night.

⊹ ︶⏝⭒ ⊹ ⭒⏝︶ ⊹

By morning you are woken up by a frantic Jamil, who couldn’t seem to find Kalim.

He seemingly did forget to place that note, explaining where he’d be.

[lovebeinaprincessworld]

Hopeless Love (Cato Hadley x reader)

Masterlist

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Description: It was hard going back, this time with even lower chances of survival - but at least you could spent your last days with Cato.

Warnings: p in v, no protection, oral (f receiving), fingering, rough sex, dominant Cato, possessive Cato, talk of death, slight breeding k!nk

11454 words

You were waiting in the same room you were in the first time around, and any minute your family should’ve come in to say goodbye - but they didn’t. The only people who came in were the peacekeepers to get you to go to the train. “Wait, I didn’t get to say goodbye yet!”, you called, but they roughly shoved you forward and you guessed that was it. You’d never see your family again, and because Snow hated you all so much, you didn’t even get to say goodbye one last time.

On the train you were a bit out of it, staring out the window and Cecilia - now yours and Woofs mentor, which was probably so weird for him and her - gave you some space and your fellow tribute Woof was somewhere else in the train. Suddenly she interrupted your melancholic mood, and looked a bit pitiful: “The reaping from 2 is just up.”

Your heart plummeted, and from her facial expression you already knew that your biggest fear came true. You still turned on the screen and saw Cato and the other victors of District 2 stand on the stage. There were lots more victors than in most of the districts and as soon as the male tribute got picked, Catos hand shot up and he was calling out: “I volunteer as Tribute!”

You couldn’t watch the rest, watch how he left the stage and walked towards his death basically. You stood up and went into your room, feeling Cecilia’s sad eyes on your back. Once the door was closed, you let your tears fall for the first time since you left the stage. You knew he did it for you, did it because he loved you, but still - he just volunteered to die with you, and you were feeling so guilty for it, and so angry with him for being so stubborn.

——————

The hustle and bustle before the parade was so different than the last time, when everyone kept to themselves and was rather shy. This time most of the Tributes had known each other for years and they were mingling and chatting when you stepped into the Hall. You spotted Katniss stroking her horse, and excused yourself from Woof and Cecilia to do some mingling of your own - Cato wasn’t here yet after all, and you still couldn’t decide how to handle that situation.

Katniss saw you coming and gave you a small genuine smile, and you couldn’t help yourself, you gave her hug even though you knew she was a bit awkward with all that. “Hey, it’s good to see you”, you smiled, and she nodded. “It’s weird isn’t it”, she said, looking around the premises and you had to agree. “Yeah, I feel a bit like an outsider”, you hummed, also stroking the mane of her horse, when suddenly you were interrupted by a Tribute with very little clothing, Finnick Odair - District 4.

“Katniss, (Y/N)”, he greeted you with a grin. “Hello Finnick”, you smiled, despite Katniss grumpy face. “Do you want a sugar cube? I mean it’s supposed to be for the horses, but…I mean who cares about them right, they’ve got years to eat sugar, whereas us three…well, if we see something sweet, we better grab it”, he smirked, giving you a wink, and throwing the sugar cube into his mouth.

“No thanks, but I would love to borrow that outfit someday”, Katniss sassily replied, and you giggled. “You look pretty terrifying in that dress up. What happened to the pretty little girl dresses?”, he joked, and Katniss had a clever answer ready: “I outgrew them.” “You certainly did”, he was still grinning, but it felt a bit more fake than before.

“Shame about this Quell thing, now you…you could’ve made out like a bandit in the Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you wanted”, he was speaking seductively, and you could tell after only a few minutes of taking to him, that it was a facade. “Well, I don’t like jewels, and I’ve got more money than I need, so…what did you do with all your wealth anyway?”, Katniss asked and gave Finnick a look.

“I haben dealt in anything as common as money for years”, he said ominously. “Well, then how do people pay for the pleasure of your company?”, Katniss was being sarcastic and you smiled. Finnick got a bit more serious, stepped closer and said lowly: “With secrets. What about you Girl on Fire? Any secrets worth my time?”, he smirked, and Katniss retaliated: “I’m an open book. Everyone always seems to know my secrets before I know them myself.”

“Unfortunately I think that’s true”, he answered, seeing Peeta walk closer and switching topics, “I’m sorry you had to cancel your wedding. I know how devastating that must be for you.” He bit down on one more of his sugar cubes, and bid his goodbyes with: “Have a good day.” Then his eyes moved to something behind you, and he grinned to himself before gently pushing some hair back behind your ear that fell out of your updo. “It was lovely to meet you (Y/N). You look dashing in that dress.”

You were confused when he gave you a wink, until you suddenly felt two large hands on your hips, and looked up to see Catos angry stare following Finnick back to his carriage. “What did he want?”, he asked you, and you noticed Peeta was next to Katniss too, but not nearly as possessive as Cato. “Is this how you greet me now?”, you were a bit pissed at him - first of all for even volunteering at all, and it irritated you that he was so possessive now. Most of the time you liked it, but when you were angry with him anyway, it didn’t help things.

He looked a bit surprised at your anger, before turning you around and pulling you into a firm hug. “You know I did it for you”, he started, quietly talking into your ear, Katniss and Peeta occupied by their own conversation. But his sentence made the guilt only flare up even more and consequently your anger at him for volunteering and at yourself (for who knows what, maybe for allowing him to fall for you). “Shut up, I don’t want to talk about that right now”, you mumbled, pushing your face further into his chest, not being able to resist his closeness even if you were mad. Plus you knew if you talked about it now, you would probably start crying. This wasn’t the right time.

———————

You didn’t want to face Cato again after the Parade, and you didn’t even know why. You knew he only meant well, and he loved you and wanted to protect you and all that, but now you’re back to square one, even worse probably, you wouldn’t make it out together again - hell the Capitol wouldn’t let any of you win with the rebellious mood in the Districts, not Cato, Katniss, Peeta or you, they’d be stupid to. So now you were both going to die.

You just couldn’t face him, you had to deal with your emotions alone, at least tonight. You knew he’d never want you to feel guilty, but you did anyways. You rushed towards the elevator as soon as your carriage stopped, stepping inside and Katniss and Peeta joined you with Haymitch. You didn’t look out of the elevator, but Katniss nudged you slightly as a warning (considering Peeta also volunteered for her, she probably knew how you felt even if she wasn’t showing it so outwardly) and Cato stepped inside too.

He didn’t seem to accept the distance you put between the two of you, and just pushed himself behind you, pulling your back into his chest and hugging you to him. He didn’t press a floor button, so you guessed he’d ride to your floor with you, before going back down.

You didn’t fight his embrace, didn’t want to cause a scene and also no matter if you felt guilty, you still loved him and wanted to be close to him, and you had missed him so much. You just wished you could push your feelings aside and just enjoy being with him for now - but you couldn’t blend out everything that was going to happen.

Before the doors could fully close, Johanna Mason stopped the door and stepped in - District 7 if you remembered correctly. “You guys look amazing”, she said annoyed, turning around with her back to you and taking stuff out of her hair. “Thanks”, Katniss said, looking annoyed by her presence. “My stylist is such an idiot”, Johanna starts to complain, “District 7, Lumber, trees, ugh. I’d love to put my axe in her face.”

You were a bit shocked by her krass language, and you were even more shocked when she continued shedding her accessories and her clothes. “Now, what do you think, now that the whole world wants to sleep with you?”, she grinned, and Katniss scoffed. “I don’t think that-“, but Johanna interrupted her and turned around. “I wasn’t talking to you”, she smirked provokingly, making Katniss roll her eyes and you immediately wondered what had happened to Johanna, that made her this prickly.

“Unzip me?”, she asked Peeta, and you saw Katniss was definitely bothered by her, grinding her teeth together in annoyance, and you were glad she left you and Cato alone - not that you thought Cato would ever agree to unzip her dress. Peeta on the other side, was too polite for his own good, actually unzipping her and then she was naked in front of you all.

You were shocked to say the least, Katniss next to you stiffening too and you reluctantly looked upwards to see if Cato was looking at her - she had an awesome body, and even Peeta took a quick glance before looking away (Haymitch didn’t bother, he seemed to enjoy the show). But when you looked up, you met his eyes right away, and you blushed and looked down again. Of course he wouldn’t look, he’d only looked at you. He reassuringly squeezed your waist and your feelings of guilt and sadness and anger started to fade a bit.

“Thanks”, Johanna said when you stopped at her floor and left the elevator, “Let’s do it again sometime!” “Thank you”, Haymitch chuckled and you just knew Katniss wanted to punch him. Next was your floor and reality hit again - Cato wouldn’t be getting off with you, because you were regular tributes again, not victors sharing a floor. So you just pulled yourself out of his embrace and left with a quick “I’ll see you all tomorrow!” You could feel his stare on your back, but you just couldn’t face him.

The silence in the elevator was loud as it was going up to floor 12, and Katniss took pity on the tall victor next to her. “You know she feels guilty right”, she said and Catos head snapped towards her, a bit confused. “Guilty?”, he wanted to know what she meant, wanted to know how to make things between you right again even though he didn’t really know what went wrong. He thought you might be a bit angry, but not like this.

“Yeah, she feels like she’s the reason why you’re going to die, because she got reaped and you volunteered for her”, she stated and then glanced towards Peeta who just stared at the wall and Haymitch who stared at the ceiling. “Or at least that’s what I think she feels”, she added, and Cato realized she was probably right - and sensed that Katniss was feeling similar about Peeta.

When they left the elevator on the twelfth floor, he pressed the button for two and called after her: “Thanks Everdeen!” Katniss just nodded over her shoulder before the doors closed again. Cato rubbed a hand over his face and slumped against the wall. He really hoped you’d meet him on the roof tonight, just like last time, just so he could fix this.

————————

Cato was waiting on the roof, and he had been waiting or the last two hours - his hope that you were actually coming up was dwindling by the second. He knew you felt bad and stuff, but how was he supposed to fix this if you wouldn’t talk to him? This was one of the last few nights you’d probably ever get to spend together and you’d rather stay in your room? Eventhough he got where you were coming from, he was also growing a bit angry.

He did it for you after all, after he saw the reaping in District eight, he couldn’t just let you walk into the arena alone. He knew you’d both probably die this time, no way were you gonna make it out again, but if it meant spending at least a bit more time with you, he’d gladly sacrifice his life for that. There was nothing left in District 2 for him anyway, his grandfather had died a few months back, and he was the last of his family - so to live in a world where even you were gone, wasn’t an option.

He had to make you understand that, you couldn’t go into the arena like this, he needed you. So he got up with newly invoked fervor, a plan forming in his mind how he would sneak into your room - he wasn’t stupid, he new if the people responsible here didn’t want him to sneak in, he wouldn’t be able to, he just hoped they would let him.

You on the other hand laid in your bed crying in that moment. It was just too much. The guilt of him volunteering for you, and now the guilt of him probably waiting for you but you being too cowardly to meet him, and talk to him about it, it just overwhelmed you. You were clutching the comforter to your chest, tears silently running down your face and your head simultaneously running wild with thoughts and being completely empty, when you heard it.

It was already late, so it was weird that someone was walking around near your door, that had never happened before, but before you could react, your door opened and someone slipped inside. You held back a scream, when you recognized the familiar shadow, and just stayed silent when he turned on the bedside lamp.

He looked a bit angry, probably because you left him waiting up there (and you briefly wondered how he was even able to sneak in), but when he took one look at your tear stricken face, your eyes meeting with all those emotions in them his face softened and sat down next to you, leaning against the headboard and pulling you into his arms.

That’s broke all your walls and you were just sobbing into his chest, holding onto him like he was the only thing keeping you together, and he probably was. It felt like hours passed with Cato comforting you quietly, stroking your back whispering sweet words into your ear, when you finally calmed down.

“I’m sorry”, you whispered, tears still staining your face, but the flow had stopped, “this is all my fault.” “Hey”, Catos voice was gentle but insistent, “Don’t say that, do you hear me, none of this is anyone’s fault but Snows.” You were exhausted from all that crying: “But if I wouldn’t have been reaped we wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t have to go into the arena again - better yet, if I wouldn’t have been reaped in the first games, or just wouldn’t have made it out, you would’ve won and would probably be living happily now, not dying because of me.”

Cato was silent for a moment, and then suddenly turned you both around so that he was pinning you to the bed with his body, his hips wedged between your legs and his eyes had an anger in them that almost made you wince. “(Y/N) I never want to hear you say that again. You really think it would’ve been better if we never met? If you fucking died? That’s bullshit and you know it. My life wouldn’t be worth living if you weren’t in it. That’s why I volunteered. I love you, and I’d rather spent a few more days with you, protect you as good as I can, than see you die on screen and live the next 50 years in misery, missing you. You know that, you know how much I love you, so can we please, please get over this and just enjoy the time we have together now?”

He seemed to have talked all his anger out, only gazing down at you softly now with a hint of desperation. “Please?”, he gently brushed some hair from your forehead, grabbing your cheek and waiting for your answer. Looking into his eyes like that, hearing him say how much he loved you again and again, it made you realize how stupid you were being. You didn’t want him to die - but he was also an adult making his own decisions, and you weren’t responsible for those.

Suddenly the answer came to you easily, and you were also just so exhausted.

“Yeah”, you whispered, “yeah, let’s just…just kiss me, please.” He didn’t waste any time, capturing your lips in a long awaited kiss, and immediately you felt at home again. You couldn’t believe how stupid you were to avoid him, you should’ve known he can erase your insecurities and doubts in a heartbeat, like he always could.

His grip on your jaw pulls you in closer, his tongue gently tracing your lower lip and slowly slipping into your mouth to meet yours, making the butterflies go crazy - but in that moment you also realized that there was something deeper, something that felt like your relationship was on another level, more devoted and serious. You knew it before, but it hit close to home in that moment, that Cato was the one for you - you would’ve wanted everything with him, marriage, kids, a home. But Snow was going to take that from you.

————————

When you stepped into the training gym the next morning, Woof immediately went off to find his old friend, while you didn’t see Cato yet and decided to go over to Katniss who seemed to be as lost as you felt. “Hey”, you smiled and leaned against the table with what seemed to be fishhooks on it. “Morning”, she sighed, clearly unhappy about something.

“Where’s the bad mood coming from? Something specific?”, you were curious, and she met your eyes and seemed to have a moment of enlightenment. “Would you…I mean Haymitch says we need to find allies, and since we already know each other”, she let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, and you giggled a bit, knowing she just was a bit socially awkward. “Of course! I think us four would make a good team right? This time from the beginning”, you agreed, kinda happy that you could present Cecilia with a win tonight at dinner.

She seemed a bit relieved too, nodding and smiling a bit. “Who else have you thought about? I think Mags is lovely, she seems very smart”, you said thoughtfully, it was just a gut feeling, but the way she volunteered for that young girl from her district, showed she’s got her priorities straight. “I actually met her earlier, and I agree, also thought about Wiress and Beetee - they’re very smart too”, she recounted what happened before you arrived.

“They showed me something”, she told you, her eyes quickly and without drawing attention to her, pointing towards the judges sitting up high and conversing while drinking. At first you were confused, trying to not stare to obviously while trying to figuring out what she meant, when you saw it. A tiny kinda blurry spot in midair. “What’s that?”, you wondered, turning back to her and she seemed to suppress a grin.

“It’s a force field”, she chuckled, “I shot an arrow at them last year, so that’s my fault I guess - well actually just at a pig at their table, but I guess it makes no difference.” The both of you had to laugh after her confession, and you were glad that even through all this horror you seemed to at least have made a friend. The thought of how long the friendship would last once the number of tributes in the arena would be dwindling, was pushed to the back of your mind.

Cato still wasn’t there, so the two of you stuck together and did a few stations, while talking more, until you arrived at what seemed to be a simulation that could be used to train with weapons, that the Careers used very impressively. But you knew who could be even more impressive. “You should have a go”, you elbowed Katniss towards the entrance and she seemed reluctant, but after a bit more encouragement, she gave in.

And just like you thought, she totally cleared every single target - the craziest part was, they were actually simulated attackers which seemed to be inspired by the other tributes. When she was done, you noticed how quiet the gym had gotten, and saw that every single tribute was standing there, looking at Katniss - which was well deserved after that performance.

“She’s impressive huh”, someone whispered in your ear, hugging you from behind and you almost had a heart attack. “Don’t scare me like that!”, you scolded him playfully, turning around and accepting the short kiss he pressed to your lips. “You should really be more aware of your surroundings, love”, he scolded you back, and you watched as the other tributes spread out across the gym again after the show was over.

“It’s weird to think about where we were last year at this time isn’t it”, you sighed, the thought suddenly crossing your mind, as you remembered how your relationship started. “Yeah, I definitely remember that asshole from your district trying to feel you up all the time”, he scowled, and you just giggled at his antics. “You’re an idiot”, you shook your head, planting another short kiss on his lips, and smoothing out the lines on his forehead. “Come on, we definitely need to use the time to work on your self defense”, he stated, pulling you along with him.

—————————

The next day at training, Cato was actually there first, but you had convinced him that you needed a break from his self defense training today - you were still sore from yesterday. So he reluctantly went off to train some more, while you were standing together with Mags who showed you how to make a fishhook. She was so sweet, and very helpful even though she couldn’t talk, encouraging you without words.

Suddenly though you felt a large hand on your hip, and at first you thought it was Cato, but the grip was a little too hard, and the feeling to unfamiliar. So you looked to your right, seeing Gloss standing there - the Career tribute from District 1 - with a creepy grin on his lips. You tried to pull away, but he just held on even tighter, your chest tightening in fear.

“You think you can win these games with some fishhooks sweetie? You’re even more innocent than I thought”, he smirked, and you tried again to push his hands away, panicking when he just pinned you against the table with his other hand. “Let me go”, you tried to keep your voice steady, but the slight tremor in it betrayed you. You threw a desperate glance towards Mags, who was suddenly gone, and no peacekeeper seemed to pay attention to you either. Oh no.

“Don’t be like that, mhm”, he looked at you like he tried to see right through your clothes, a shiver of disgust running through you, “you spread your legs for one Career already didn’t you, why not for another? I could show you a good time.” You kept trying to wind yourself out of his grip, thinking about screaming for help, but you hated causing a scene and you were a bit overwhelmed by this.

“It’s not like that”, you mumbled, looking away and he just chuckled. “No? You didnt let him touch you then? Maybe you’re right, you’re such a young naive girl, sweet and pretty, such a shame we’re heading for the arena.” You kept glaring at him, trying to catch the gaze of a peacekeeper, but considering you couldn’t even see their eyes, this was hard.

Mags didn’t just leave you alone of course, but she knew there wasn’t a lot she could do to help you, so she hurried off to find Cato. He was currently training with his swords, talking to Peeta a bit, who he had shown a few things to, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around quickly, confused who’d interrupt him, and was even more confused when he saw the old lady from District 4.

“Do you need something?”, he tried to be polite, knowing you liked her and would want him to be. He knew she couldn’t talk, but when she started gesturing towards something, and he saw you being grabbed by Gloss, he knew why she came to him anyway. He immediately started stalking over there, his face dark and the panicked look on your face was stoking the anger boiling in his chest. What did that fucker think he was doing?

“…such a young naive girl, sweet and pretty, such a shame we’re heading for the arena”, was what Cato could hear as he got closer and he saw red. He didn’t even want to imagine what else that scumbag told you before, so once he was within reach, Cato ripped him away from you and had him face down on the floor in seconds, pinning him by his neck and kneeling on his upper body. Gloss was a pretty impressive Career, but he was also older and shorter than Cato.

“Yeah? Maybe you’re too old for this, shouldn’t spew such bullshit if you can’t deal with the outcome grandpa”, Cato hissed, and Gloss just groaned when Cato put even more weight into his hold, “I’ll fucking kill you, first chance that I get asshole.” And with that he let the Tribute go, holding his hands up in a peaceful manner when the Peacekeepers came to pull him off, and turned to you to pull you away from the scene.

He pulled you into an empty little nook close to the unoccupied climbing station, that you couldn’t see into from outside, and held you close for a minute, allowing himself to quench his anger and you to calm down a bit. “What a fucking asshole, who does he think he is taking to you like that”, Cato grumbled, mostly to himself while stroking your hair, knowing you were upset about it. “Thanks for saving me - again I guess, lost count of all the other times”, you chuckled a bit, and he just held you closer.

“I shouldn’t have left your side, hope he fucking learned his lesson now”, Cato wanted so badly to go back and make sure he understood to stay away, but he knew he’d get in trouble, so he tried to make do with the thought he’d be able to kill him soon. You seemed to know what he was thinking, because you distracted him with a gentle kiss, trying to eradicate the feeling of the other man touching you - the soft grip Cato had on you comforting you now, a stark contrast to before.

———————

You were just changing into your pajamas, looking for some underwear in the drawers of the closet in your room, when you came across something interesting. You were used to wearing pretty basic underwear in you district, and also here in the training center, it was just what you knew and what was practical. You knew your mother had some nicer nightgowns, she once told you they were from her wedding night (which you only really understood as you got older), but they were nothing like what you had found.

The underwear that someone must’ve put in your drawer probably did serve the same purpose, which you roughly guessed was to look more enticing to your partner, but they had significantly less fabric, and looked almost sinful. Where you would normally wear a plain cotton bra, this one was adorned with lace and some pearls, delicately sewn onto the fabric, and you could only admire that handiwork as a fellow seamstress. It was beautiful.

The panties however, were pretty much nonexistent, the front displaying the same lace and pearls as the top, but the back was only a small sliver of fabric, which would leave nothing to imagination. Actually you were sure no part of this matching set left a lot to imagination. You were blushing even thinking about putting it on, not to mention Cato seeing you in this. You briefly wondered if someone put it there on purpose, but when you checked the time, you saw that you were running late meeting him on the rooftop, so you had to decide what to do with it now.

You stared at it for a few moments were it was laying on your bed, and after taking a deep breath you decided - fuck it. You were going to die in that arena, so why not be a bit brave and put it on to feel pretty, and for him to take it off of you. You were blushing already, but the thought also made you excited. So you quickly slipped it on, putting on your pajama pants and shirt on top, before taking a blanket and sneaking out onto the roof.

Your blood was rushing in you ears, and your cheeks were bright red, and when you stepped onto the roof and rounded the corner, Cato was already there and could immediately tell something was up. He brought a blanket too, so when he saw you had one as well, he put his on the ground so you could sit on it, and pulled you into his lap as soon as you were in reach, before spreading your blanket over the two of you.

“You okay? Did something happen?”, he inquired once you were in his arms comfortably, and suddenly all that bravery from earlier when you put the underwear on, had vanished. Damn it. “Nothing”, you tried to sound confident, but your voice wavered slightly, and trained Career that he was, Cato picked up on it right away.

“Okay now you’re worrying me, what’s wrong love?”, he looked at you with furrowed brows and you bit your lip trying to build up the courage to show him, trying to tell yourself he’s not gonna think it’s silly. Which it kind of felt now, but there was no going back. “There’s something I found in…in the closet in my room”, you reluctantly started, turning around in his arms and sitting on your knees in front of him now, between his bent legs, and you were holding onto his knees for support - mostly moral.

“Okay?”, Cato was curious now, quirking one eyebrow. He could see you were nervous the moment you rounded the corner, all blushed and fidgety, and he really wanted to know what it was you found now. “Did you bring it?”, he asked further when you didn’t elaborate, and you seemed to blush even more, and he couldn’t help but smile at how pretty you looked.

“Kind off, yeah”, you stuttered, and he was only more confused now, where was it then? But you seemed to gather your courage after all, and what you showed him was not at all what he expected. You took you pajama shirt off, and under it was a basically fucking see through lace bra. His brain stopped working for a minute, totally caught off guard by that move, the gears only starting to turn again when you tried to cover yourself, because you were growing more and more nervous, and he caught your hands to stop you.

“Fuck, is that what you found hm?”, Catos voice was raspy, lower than normal, because he couldn’t wrap his head around how you put that on for him. Just him. He knew stuff like lingerie from District 2 of course, they were equipped with luxuries like that a lot better than your District, but the thought of you finding this, being confused at first, and then coming to the conclusion that you wanted to wear it for him, had him hard in seconds.

You on the other hand were growing hot under his predatory gaze. He always watched you in that possessive way whenever you two got intimate, but never before had he looked at you like this - like he wanted to do unspeakable things to you, all dark and handsome. “You put that on just for me, did you? Fuck you’re so perfect”, he growled pulling you closer and then immediately manhandling you down onto the blanket, trapping you underneath him. God, he was so intense, you were growing wet already.

“Just for you”, you whispered, still a bit shy, your hands softly moving over his arms, and holding onto his shoulders, the muscles moving underneath your touch, his hips grinding the bulge in his pants against your clothed core, the tough friction making you whimper a bit. His eyes were still glued to your boobs, his finger delicately stroking the lace, cupping them before pulling the cups down, and revealing your nipples to him.

You sucked in a harsh breath when he pulled your right nipple into his mouth, flicking it with his tongue, sucking on it, while his other hand gave attention to your other nipple, gently rolling it between his fingers, the tingling sensation moving all over your body, right to your pulsing core, where he was still grinding into you.

He pulled back suddenly, looking down at you with a smirk that made the parties stick to your folds, and his fingers teased the waistband of your pants. “Are you wearing the matching panties?”, he grinned, and you blushed again, your cheeks hot under his gaze, and just shyly nodded. He bent down his mouth brushing your ear. “Good girl”, he hummed, suddenly pulling down your pants and throwing them somewhere, pausing to take you in for a moment.

Cato looked down on you, your tits spilling out of the cups, still glistening from his mouth and pretty nipples all perky. You were telling the truth, the matching panties - more like a thong - were clinging to your soaked pussy, and you looked like a fucking goddess. And you were all his. He quickly shed his shirt, propping himself above you once more and completely taking off your bra, his lips finding yours in a short but passionate kiss, before he descended until his head was right in front of your soaked panties. You were so perfect.

Catos tongue started moving over your panties, and you were stunned by how sinful the sight was, and by how good it felt. He pressed the lace against your clit slightly, moving it around, and the resulting sensation had you moaning his name. His fingers were gliding underneath your panties, pushing them aside a bit and then pushing into you easily, you were so wet already he could’ve fucked you right away, but he wanted to take his time.

He knew your body like the back of his hand by now, curling his fingers just right, his tongue still moving over your clit and bringing you closer and closer towards your first orgasm, and then he suddenly pulled his fingers out, ripped the panties right off of you, and sucked your now bare clit into his mouth with such vigor, that you came on the spot.

Cato was painfully hard and his grip on his patience was slipping, so when your legs tightened around his head, your moans echoing into the night, he was already pushing down his pants and boxers while continuing to eat you out through your orgasm. Once you were coming down, twitching away from him sensitively, he let up, pulling himself up and above you.

“Fuck I love you so much, you have no idea”, he groaned, his heart almost beating out of his chest when he looked down at you, and he leaned down to capture your slightly swollen lips in a soft kiss, his cock sliding between your folds, making you both moan into the kiss. “I love you, Cato, please”, you whimpered, “I need you.”

That was all it took to throw over his self control, amd he positioned himself at your entrance, before pushing in, the stretch burning so good, your pussy pulsing to accommodate his size. When he bottomed out, the head of his leaking cock pressing against your cervix slightly, he pulled back without giving you a moment, a gasp leaving your mouth when he started thrusting firmly, grazing that spongey spot inside of you with every move.

“Cato”, you breathlessly moaned, and he buried his head in your neck, groaning at the feeling of you clenching, sucking him in even deeper, and his thrusts became a bit harsher, making you hold onto his back, the muscles all flexed and tight. When he changed his angle, his pelvis was lightly grazing you clit with every other thrust, pushing you closer to the edge with every movement, and he could tell, by the pleasured expression on your face, that you were close.

“Fuck, you’re gonna cum for me hm?”, he hummed in your ear, a precise thrust making you whimper and nod in desperation. “God you’re so perfect, I’m almost there, gonna fill you up so good”, his mouth was a bit looser than normal, your little show with the lingerie making him hornier than usual, but by how much you were clenching around him, he knew you liked it.

“You like that don’t you? Fuck, in another life I would’ve gotten you pregnant some day, would’ve given it all to you”, he growled, the thought suddenly so emotional, that it pushed him to the edge, and it seemingly did the same to you, because you shattered around him, moaning his name, and he followed right after you, pushing into you a few more times, before cumming inside of you with a deep groan, holding onto your thighs firmly.

You were both catching your breath for a minute, when he gently pulled out of you, watching as his cum leaked out of you slowly, but he pushed it back into your swollen pussy, a whimper leaving your mouth when he touched the sensitive area. He laid down next to you with a smirk, closing your legs firmly, before pulling you closer and covering you with the second blanket. “Keep me inside won’t you”, he hummed possessively, grinning a bit when you blushed at his naughty words, but pressing your legs together all the same.

“You know”, you started after a while of you two just cuddling in silence, “I would’ve wanted that someday. If we ever had the chance I mean. A family.” He looked down at you, the both of you a bit melancholic at the thought of what could’ve been, if it wasn’t for Panem - if it wasn’t for Snow. “I love you”, he kissed you gently, just focusing on having you here with him in that moment, soaking in the way it made him feel impossibly happy. “I love you”, you whispered back, kissing his cheek, and interlacing your fingers with his, holding onto this moment.

————————

It was the last day of training before the individual sessions would be held and Cato was as always very clingy - especially after the incident with Gloss. “I’ll just go over to the fire station, you’ll have a clear view of me don’t worry”, you tried to convince him he didn’t have to interrupt his training just to come with you, squeezing his hand calmly, but he looked unconvinced. “Cato”, you scolded a bit, seeing as he was about to open his mouth to tell you he’d come with you, and he shut it again. “Alright”, he grumbled and you smiled before giving him a kiss and bounding off towards the fire station, wanting to refine your skills a bit more - Cato was the muscles out of the two of you, and even though you were pretty swift and bendy, you wanted to level up your survival skills.

Finnick saw this as an opportunity to make a move - in a tactical way of course. He knew Katniss and you liked Mags, the problem was the both of you liked him not so much. Or more like Katniss didn’t trust him, and you didn’t know him enough to actually judge him. He knew if he wanted to secure an alliance in the arena, you were the link of their group that would be most likely to stop Katniss from killing him, so he needed to make a good impression, which wasn’t so easy with Cato being around you all the time.

You were a bit startled when the Tribute from District 4 sat down next to the fire you just managed to start. “Finnick”, you smiled politely. You were always good at reading people, and you had noticed from the first word he spoke back when you met him that he wasn’t actually all cocky and cheeky - what he actually was like you didn’t know though.

“Nice fire you got going there”, he acknowledged it with a nod and you thanked him. “Katniss taught me last year. What brings you here?”, you asked, wanting to know what he wanted before Cato noticed him and interrupted you two. “Mags tells me you picked up on making a fish hook pretty quickly too, she likes you”, he ignored the question, making you cock your head slightly.

“I like her too”, you decided to play his game for now, “It was very brave of her to volunteer for that young girl from your District.” And that got a reaction, one you thought it might get - Finnicks mask slipped slightly. “Annie, right?”, you softly inquired - it seemed like speaking her name kinda made him sink into himself a bit, and you realized your hunch was right. You had seen it in the way he looked at her during their reaping.

Finnick was caught off guard, he underestimated you a bit, thinking of you as the slightly innocent and oblivious girl, but you seemed to keep your talents on the low - nobody has ever read him so fast, and he was impressed. “You love her”, you smiled, but not in an evil way, like you just had gained information you could use against him, no in a touched and pure way, like you just thought it was sweet and nothing else.

“Yeah, I do”, he said, it seemed like the thought of Annie made him a bit melancholic and you were glad he had come to talk, happy to see behind his mask for just a moment. “I’m sorry you had to leave her behind”, you said, your smile turning a bit sad when you squeezed his biceps in comfort. “I’m sorry you have your love here with you”, he gave you the same sad smile, and you understood what he meant - it was sad to leave his love behind, but he was still glad she wasn’t here with him.

You held his gaze for another moment, before he suddenly looked behind you, grimacing. “I’ll get going before your Career kills me before we even get to the arena”, he grinned, his cockiness back and the moment gone, and you just shook your head with a grin. “I’ll see you”, you waved when he moved, and a moment later you were scooped up by the waist, piled into a familiar strong chest, and you rolled your eyes.

“What was that?”, Cato sounded on edge, and you had to admit possessive Cato never got old. “Nothing”, you smiled, turning in his arms and the way his big hand gripped your waist made your panties stick to your folds almost immediately. You were feeling a bit naughty, thinking about how you could mess with him a bit, maybe he’d be a bit rougher with you later tonight. “What were you doing touching his arm like that then?”, Cato scowled, and you knew he didn’t actually think you were flirting with Finnick, it was just the fear of losing you combined with his already protective nature - he trusted you fully. You smiled innocently, a plan forming in your mind.

“He just wanted to me to feel his muscles to see if he was ready for the arena, that’s it”, you explained, acting as if that was completely normal, and as you anticipated, Catos gaze darkened significantly. “I’ll kill him”, Cato exclaimed, trying to march away from you and to wherever Finnick disappeared to, but you stopped him with a laugh. “You didn’t honestly believe that did you? I’m just messing with you baby”, you giggled, and he cocked one brow.

He looked at you for a moment, observing the way you blushed under his gaze, and leaned down. “You’re a bit naughty today are you? I can’t leave you alone for five minutes, you’re too pretty, attracting so much attention - and then you go and touch him”, his voice was raspy when he lowly whispered in your ear, leaving goosebumps everywhere. “Doesn’t matter why”, he shut you up when you wanted to protest that the touching wasn’t flirty or anything, “I think I still need to make sure you know you should only touch me hm?”

He noticed the way you squeezed your thighs together immediately, a smug grin on his face and determination in his gaze. “Come one”, he exclaimed, pulling you along to the elevator, and considering training was over anyway, that didn’t attract too much attention.

You were suprised that no one stopped him when he stepped onto your districts floor with you - in retrospect you figured someone was watching you all the time, so that must mean they let you two do this. “Cato”, you tried talking to him once the door to your room shut behind you but he just interrupted you with a rough kiss.

You were a bit shocked, especially when he made quick work of you your clothes, leaving you bare infront of him - well except for you panties, and the dangerous glint in his eyes made the wet patch on them grow. You were reaching for him, wanting to touch him and undress him too, but he caught your wrist in his big hand, easily holding it where he wanted.

“You don’t get to touch baby”, he smirked, suddenly turning you around and bending you over the bed, his still clothed rock hard erection pressing against your thinly covered pussy, and your head turned to the side, looking at him over your shoulder. “Cato”, you whined, but he just chuckled and started grinding into you, bending down and gently kissing your cheek, before claiming your lips in a passionate kiss again, his hand tangling in your hair and pulling a bit - not enough to hurt but just right to get you even more excited.

He pulled back and stood up straight again, admiring his perfect girl in front of him, and quickly shed his shirt and pants before letting his hands run up and down your back a few times. You held your breath in anticipation of what he would do next, kinda really enjoying this even more dominate side of him, and when he finally pulled your panties to the side and his fingers found you all dripping, the groan he released made you bite your lip to stop an embarrassing whine from coming out.

“Fuck love, is that all for me?”, he grumbled, then bent down a bit and growled, “or for Odair?” And then he slid two fingers in to the knuckle making you moan out in suprise, clenching the covers in your fists. He didn’t let you catch your breath, instead immediately setting a fast pace, curling his fingers into that spongey spot inside you and totally overwhelming your senses. “You! For you Cato, please”, you whimpered, not sure if you were asking him to stop or to keep going.

“Don’t worry, I’ll always be here to take of you even if you’re misbehaving”, your eyes were clenched shut, but you could still hear the grin in his voice. He added his thumb to circle your clit, making you see stars and rapidly approaching your high, but just as you reached the edge, he pulled back and left you hanging.

“Cato”, you pouted at him over your shoulder, and he seemed pretty satisfied with himself. “You’ll only cum on my cock today, I need to make sure you understand you’re mine”, he smirked, lining himself up with you and then only pushing his head in, teasing you a bit, “need to make sure you’ll cum with my cock deep inside you, feeling it’s only me who can make you feel like this.” You were so fucked out, you heard him but couldn’t answer, instead just clenching around his tip, making him groan and push all the way in - fuck you’ve never done it from behind before, but his angle felt like he was deeper than ever before.

“Cato”, you moaned when he picked up the pace right away, thoroughly fucking you, his hips slapping against your ass with every thrust. “Fuck you’re so tight”, he groaned, molding himself to your back while continuing his assault on your poor pussy - not that you were complaining. You weren’t sure if you talking to Finnick actually bothered him, or if it was just all the stress combined, but damn were you glad this was the way he chose to handle it.

Contrary to his rough thrusts, he laid his hand on top of one of yours, sliding his digits between yours, while balancing himself on his other arm as not to crush you with all of his weight. “I love you so much, I hope you know that”, he hummed into your ear, and even though he simultaneously brought you closer and closer to the edge, you couldn’t help but smile - even when he was being rough, he was still a softie inside (at least for you).

“Love you too”, you mumbled, squeezing his hand and gasping when that made him pick up speed, a small move changing the angle so that he was drilling into the right spot, and because he fucked you with your panties on, they were conveniently rubbing your clit with every move of his hips. “C-Cato”, you stuttered, suddenly very close to reaching your high, you walls already clenching around him in anticipation and he buried his face in your hair with a moan.

“It’s alright come for me, I’m close too”, he grunted, his thrusts getting slightly more sloppy but never losing power, and then you were cumming all over his cock, the angle letting you feel him so deep, that your vision went white for a second, and your walls squeezed him so tight, he pushed as close a he could with a moan, his dick twitching inside you as he filled you up.

You two stayed like that for a minute, fingers still tangled, his front still covering you and his cock still inside. He seemed to go lax though, so he started crushing you a bit and while you loved having him close, you also liked to breathe. “Cato”, you mumbled, wiggling a bit but he just released a content hum, not moving an inch. “You’re crushing me”, you complained, but not being able to hold back your giggle, squeezing his hand.

“Sorry love”, he whispered, his mood suddenly totally relaxed, as if he really got all the stress and frustration out of his system. He gently pulled out, quickly pulling your panties back in place, so that his cum couldn’t leak out, and looking over your shoulder you could see he was smiling like he just accomplished something. You could only roll your eyes (even though you secretly thought it was hot).

Before you could attempt to move on your own, he carefully picked you up, holding you infront of him, before pulling back the covers and situating the both of you underneath. When he pulled you into his chest, his arms wrapping around you, making you feel safe. “You okay? I wasn’t too rough?”, he asked, pushing some hair behind your ear and you smiled at him. “I’m good, that was great”, you sighed, pushing your face into his neck. “I hope you know that there was no reason to actually be jealous though”, you added, your hand painting little pattern on his chest, making him kiss your head with a smile.

“I know”, he admitted, “doesn’t mean I like seeing that pretty boy close and personal with you.” You giggled, leaning up a bit and kissing his jaw fondly. You loved the sex with him, but you loved these cuddly, intimate moments with him after even more. “You wanna know what we were talking about?”, you started, the hand on your hip squeezing lightly to signal you to continue, “he was telling me about that girl he loves, back in his district.”

“Girl?”, Cato was curious, and you weren’t suprised he had no idea, his skills in the combat department were off the charts, but his observance when it came to people, was pretty bad. “The one Mags volunteered for”, you explained, and he just gave a thoughtful hum, kissing your temple, and pulling you even closer. “That makes me hate him a little less”, Cato smirked, and you just accepted that with sigh.

—————————

You and Cato were laying on the rooftop together, exhausted but happy to spent some time with each other. You finished the individual sessions today, Cato excelling his last score with 11 and you holding your 7 steady. “I’m still wondering what Katniss and Peeta did to get that 12, that’s insane”, Cato wondered out loud, and you were nodding, the way everyone around the screen gasped still fresh in your memories.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with their actual skills, knowing Katniss she probably did something to provoke them. I should ask her about it tomorrow”, you shared your thoughts, and considering she told you she shot an arrow at the gamemakers last year, you probably weren’t far off. “But Peeta? He doesn’t seem like the type of guy to outright provoke the Capitol like Katniss would”, he said, his hand on your back absentmindedly drawing circles on your back and you sighed in bliss, cuddling even closer into his chest.

“No not outright, but he knows how to get a rise out of people without actively attacking you know”, you mused, and Cato hummed in thought. You two laid there under the stars, in one of the last nights you had to yourselves, but you stopped these negative thoughts. You just tried to live in the present.

“We should do something passive aggressive when we have the interviews tomorrow you know”, Cato said after a while, making you raise you brows in suprise. He was right of course, but you hadn’t thought that far yet, trying to block out the looming threat of being on live television again. “What do you have in mind?”, you wondered, and he was silent for a few moments.

“Has to be something that riles up the people you know, even the Capitol jerks have to be angry we’re gonna be send back in there”, he started, and you realized he had been thinking about this for a while already. “Yeah, you’re right, maybe something that makes them feel like they’ve been left out of the love story, something that makes it even more tragic”, you agreed, raking your brain for a suitable idea. It was quiet for a few minutes while you two thought about it, when suddenly Cato stunned you with his idea.

“Marry me”, he whispered, and you went rigid in his arms, sitting up in shock and looking down at the tall career. “What?”, you asked, louder than necessary and he sat up too, his hand on your waist immediately, the other cradling your jaw.

“Think about it, if we told them we got married in secret, like if we had to face death anyway, we want to be together forever after we die or something, you know - that makes them feel left out, they didn’t get to see our wedding or whatever, we can tell them it was just us, on a quiet evening, that combined with the tragedy of me volunteering to die with you, might actually make them really upset”, he explained his idea, and you had to admit he was right.

Your finger gently ran over his jaw, down his neck and settled on his chest, giving you time to think, before you finally nodded. “Yeah, let’s do it, I wanna make them as upset as possible”, you agreed, and the thought of ‘marrying’ him even if it wasn’t real real, made your cheeks redden. “Okay, okay, I’ll wake Brutus up when I go back down and ask him if he can organize rings before the interview, to make it more believable”, he replied, his thumb brushing your lip, before his mouth replaced it.

You two lay there together for a while, occasionally kissing, but generally just enjoying each others presence. “You know”, he started again, “If I had the chance, would’ve done this right, would’ve gotten you a ring, proposed - I would’ve given you a real wedding.” You shifted your head on his shoulder slightly, your lips pressing a gentle kiss to his jaw that made the arm around you tighten. “I would’ve loved that”, you whispered, his lips finding yours in a soft kiss.

—————————

As soon as you stepped out of the elevator, Cecilia stirred you towards Cato and Brutus, who seemed to be waiting - she was on board immediately when you told her about your plan this morning. It seemed like Brutus was able to acquire some rings, because Cato was holding a small box. “Hey”, he greeted you, a soft kiss to your cheek, and a hand on your waist.

“We’ll leave you to it”, Cecilia smiled, and Brutus nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get you when you have to line up”, he added, and the two of them were off talking to old friends. “You look beautiful”, Cato smiled, kissing you properly now that your mentors were gone, and you couldn’t help but smile too. The too of you were matching, your stylist thinking all black would be adding a dramatic effect - married and wearing clothes as if someone died (or is going to, aka you two). So you were wearing a black dress, and Cato matching in a black tux.

“Thanks, you look pretty too”, you giggled, his eyebrows raising in surprise. “Pretty?”, he grinned, pulling you in closer, and you just laughed. “Yeah, also strong and scary of course”, you rolled your eyes fondly, and he pinched your side, before directing your attention to the box in his hand, flipping the lid open and revealing two rings: one larger basic golden band, and on delicate thin gold ring with a diamond in the middle. “Wow, they’re so nice, considering Brutus only had today to get them”, you gasped, and he nodded, laying his cheek on top of your head while you two admired them for a moment.

“I…guess we should put them on, huh?”, he mumbled, and you nodded, the moment feeling more serious all of a sudden, as if - even if you didn’t officiate anything - you would actually be married. He took yours out and you held out your hand for him, shaking slightly, and he gently slipped the ring on your finger. It fit perfectly.

You looked at it for a moment, before taking his out, and slipping it onto his big hand, smiling to yourself at the way it looked - the way it meant (even if only for show) that he was yours forever. “This feels good”, he suddenly said, and your eyes snapped up, meeting his gaze and the love in his eyes almost overwhelmed you. “It feels real”, you added, and he nodded, pulling you into his arms completely, cradling your jaw and stopping right in front of your lips.

“You may now kiss the bride”, he grinned, and your giggle was stifled by his lips. “I love you”, you said between kisses, your hands locking behind his neck. “I love you”, he whispered, his lips back on yours, until you were pulled apart by your mentors when it was time to line up. Let the show begin.

————————

“Married?”, Caesar gasped, the crowd was stunned and your heart beat out of your chest where you were waiting backstage. You were thankful Cato had to go first and break the news - not that he had to do much, Caesar noticed his ring right away. “Yeah, we just thought, if this is going to end soon, we want to be together forever after you know”, Cato said, and you basically see all the women in the crowd swooning over the big, bad Career being so soft. Not that you weren’t, you were always swooning over him.

“And you kept it a secret?”, Caesar asked, intrigued by the story, but you also saw that he knew what you two were doing. “We didn’t want anyone to take that moment from us too”, Cato said, and the underlying message wasn’t lost on most people, “and you know, she’s the one for me, why wait for a time that we both know is not going to come.”

“Is that why you volunteered? To be with her again?”, Caesar asked about what most people were probably interested in. “Yeah”, Cato took a deep breath, “I was hoping she wouldn’t get reaped, and when I saw she did, I knew I had to volunteer and be here with her. I couldn’t have lived a life where I didn’t try everything to protect her - and I guess even if we wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t have let us have our happy end anyway huh?” That shut Caesar up for a moment, and then Catos interview was over. You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes at all the crying woman in the crowd.

“So (Y/N), how is married life treating you? Is Cato a good Husband? Your ring is beautiful by the way”, Caesar started your interview with a joke. You laughed politely, the crowd joining in. “Thank you Caesar. He’s the best, he always is”, you smiled, then put your sad face on, “I just wish we could’ve had it all you know? Growing old together, having kids, grandkids…” You were suprised you were able to push a tear out, and the crowd ate it right up.

“Yes, we would have loved to see that”, he said with empathy, squeezing your hand, “but life sometimes plays out differently, and you’re both here together - tell me, how did you react, how did you feel when you saw he volunteered?” Now your face actually fell, the moment Cecilia told you still fresh in your mind. “I was so angry at first”, you sighed, remembering how you lashed out at the parade.

“Why is that?”, Caesar replied, urging you to continue. “I knew I was going to die when I was reaped, and I didn’t understand why he would volunteer just so he could die with me you know”, you explained reluctantly, not sure if you actually wanted to share your real thoughts with everyone, but you continued anyway, “but when we saw each other again, and he…made me understand how he couldn’t live without me, and how much he loves me, I understood why he did it - I would’ve done the same.” The crowd was a wreck after this, lots of woman crying again and talking about how much you deserved to be together. But what really made them lose it, was Peeta dropping that Katniss was pregnant.

————————

It was colder than the other nights in the rooftop, Catos arms keeping you warm under the blanket where you were laying. You were both still naked, the sweat from your previous activities drying - the last time you would ever get to do that. “I can’t believe this is out last night together”, you whispered, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to overwhelm you, “we’ll be back in the arena tomorrow.”

Cato arms tightened around you, your face buried in his neck, and his lips ghosting over your hair. “Please baby, let’s not think about this, let’s just…”, his voice gave out, and you could tell he was trying to keep it together, your own tears flowing over and hitting his skin. “I love you so much, please always remember that”, he told you, taking a deep breath, his finger gently stroking your back. “I love you too, I’ll always love you”, you whispered, and you left the few drops of liquid that hit your hair uncommented, kissing his neck gently instead.

————————

The moment Aspasia gave you your clothes for the arena you knew it would be different than last time - the lightweight, thin material pointing towards a warmer climate. Your thoughts were running wild and at the same time it felt like you couldn’t process anything at all, you couldn’t believe you were about to enter the Hunger Games again.

“For what it’s worth, I loved being your stylist”, Aspasia broke the silence, trying to give you a smile but failing to conceal the sad look in her eyes. “I loved being styled by you”, you said, and it was genuine - she had always been really sweet with you. She opened her mouth again to respond, but the voice from the speakers interrupted her - it was time to go into the arena.

She wordlessly pulled you into a tight hug, and then seemed to remember something. “Wait, I almost forgot, that would’ve been a disaster! They cleared your ring”, she quickly pushed your wedding band, the one that Cato had put on you and that you had to give up before coming to the arena, onto your finger. “Thank you”, you whispered, actually happy about having it with you - who knew what would happen, at least you had a piece of him with you.

You forced yourself to step into the tube, the door sliding shut, and it took a while longer than last time for you to be going up, but when you did, you were blinded by the sun immediately - it was so hot and humid, you were probably right about a warmer climate, probably tropical. And when your eyes adjusted, you were proved right again, the arena was a huge jungle, but the part that worried you laid before you.

The cornucopia was in the middle of a circle shaped body of water, the tributes only separated by strips of rock leading towards the island in the middle. You started to panic, seeing the water slosh against the platform you were standing on and the countdown sounding in your ears. Then you remembered you weren’t alone, your eyes shooting up and trying to spot Cato, or really any of your allies, no matter if Katniss or Peeta.

You spotted Cato about a quarter of the circle away from you, his eyes already on you, taking in the way you looked at him wide eyed, your eyes darting towards the water and back up again, and when you subtly (as not to give your weakness away to the other tributes) shook your head, you could see it dawned on him that your plan of running towards each other again would be a problem, his eyes reflecting your own panic - you couldn’t swim.

==========

So finally a next part, I’m so sorry I always take so long, but even though I have a thousand ideas I’m soo lazy when it comes to actually writing them down ahahah! Hope you liked it anyway, I’m not completely happy, but let me know what you think and if you wanna be tagged in the next part :)

Taglist: @lisedanie @iskamr @fangirlninja67 @star611 @markeyateallyourfood @urmomsbananabread @faces-ofvenus @hopefulatrocity @inej-ruination-ghafa @trainboom @dxrkheavensworld @itsmytimetoodream @heartsforsha @enchantingpiratepeace @thorins-queen-of-erebor @darlingtonbubbles

[canirove]

Canary boy | Chapter 17

Previous chapter | Last chapter (coming out on Tuesday)

Masterlist

“That was the worst experience of my life.”

“It wasn't that bad” Aitana chuckles. “And you looked cute.”

“I looked ridiculous” I sigh.

What had the club decided to do this year for Valentine's day? A video where we say the cringiest pick up lines ever. And who have they chosen to be part of it? Me, someone who doesn't like Valentine's day.

Carla says I don't like it because I've never had someone to celebrate it with and that I will be changing my mind now that Pedri and I are together, but that's not it. It's everything around it that I don't like, how marketed it is.

“At least you didn't have to say “do you know what this t-shirt is made of? Boyfriend material””

“Shit, Víctor” I jump when he shows up behind us.

“Sorry” he says. “But my line is way worse than yours.”

“They both suck” I say.

“Aitana, your turn!” someone calls.

“I gotta go. We'll see if mine also sucks” she laughs, leaving me alone with Víctor.

“Inés, could we… Could we talk for a moment?” he says.

“I… Yes, sure” I reply, following him to a corner away from where the filming is happening. “Víctor, are you ok?”

“Uh?”

“You look… I don't know. Off.” Because telling him “you aren't flirting with me and being your usual annoying self around me” is a bit rude, isn't it? “Did something happen?”

“No, no. I mean… yes. But no.”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes” he sighs, running a hand through his perfect hair, something I had never seen him do before. “My dad got a little health scare during the holidays.”

“Oh, no. Is he ok?”

“Yeah, yeah. We were quick and nothing serious happened, but it scared the hell out of me, Inés.”

“I'm so sorry, Víctor” I say, awkwardly touching his arm and trying to somehow comfort him.

“Thank you” he smiles. But it isn't one of his usual flirty smiles. It is an honest and sincere smile, and it feels… weird. “Anyway, I wanted to talk with you because of something that has been going on on Instagram and that involves you.”

“Me?” I ask with a confused look.

“My social media team has noticed that over the past few days there has been someone flooding my comments and dms with things about you. About you being fake, stealing someone's boyfriend, using me for clout and fame, and basically calling you a…” he says, looking down. And call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure he is blushing. Víctor, is blushing. Ummm… what? “They are calling you a whore.”

Oh, wow.

“All those comments and messages come from different accounts with no posts or followers, they've been created just for that. And it obviously is the same person behind them because it basically is a copy paste. But I know they all are a bunch of lies. I know you and you aren't like that” he says. “My team has taken care of all of it, reporting all the accounts and deleting all the comments. But they asked me to talk with you because this could be taken to the police.”

“What?”

“They are harassing you, Inés. You could report it to the police, and they could find out who is writing everything and arrest them. Unless you know who is behind it.”

“I... I think I know who that person may be, yes.”

Nerea. It has to be her. This is her vendetta after what happened during our last encounter.

“And what do you want to do? They barely post and send anything now, but…”

“Then let it be. They just want attention to use it against me, so it's best to ignore them.”

“Ok” he nods. “But I'll still tell my team to keep an eye on it just in case.”

“Thank you, Víctor” I smile.

“You're welcome” he smiles back. And, again, it is that honest smile. “Also… umm… I'm sorry.”

“Uh?”

“About the way I've been behaving around you all these years. I just… I don't know” he says, back to running his hand through his hair. “What happened to my dad has made me see things differently, and I've realised that the way I was treating you wasn't ok.”

Is... Is this really happening? Is Víctor being nice and apologizing?

“Things haven't been easy, you know? Dealing with all the sudden fame when I made it to the first team, the money and all the brand deals, the fans and especially the fangirls… It's been tough and I've struggled. A lot. Everything may look perfect from the outside but… it isn't.”

“Víctor, I…”

“What I want to say, is that I'm sorry, Inés. I'm sorry I was so blinded by this idea of the perfect couple from Barcelona's academy and its marketing, that I didn't see that you don't like me.”

“I don't…”

“Please don't try to say that you don't dislike me” he chuckles. “Anyone could see that you weren't comfortable around me, that my flirting bothered you. Anyone but me.”

“I mean, yes. It bothered me. But that doesn't mean that I dislike you. I just… I… I didn't like that side of you. Because you've shown me that you actually are nice and that it isn't all just for show. Look at what happened at the Christmas party. It is true that then you took advantage of it to keep that game of us dating going on, but I don't think you helped me with that in mind. You helped me because you are a good person, Víctor” I say, reaching for his hand.

“You think… You think I am a good person?”

“I do” I say. “And this conversation we are having is proof of it. Before you were just… lost” I shrug.

“Yeah, I guess” he says. “Thank you, Inés. For listening to me, and forgiving me, and…”

“You're welcome” I smile.

“Can I get a hug or will your boyfriend get jealous?” he asks with a little smirk. Now that is the Víctor I'm used to.

“I don't have a boyfriend.”

“Then who was the guy I saw you with the other day after the game? The one you were all over and who was making you laugh?”

“You… you saw us?”

“I did. I went to the game to find you after and have this conversation, but then I saw you together and didn't want to interrupt. Is he the one you stole?” he says, now fully smirking. A few weeks ago I would have sent him to hell and leave, spending the rest of my day complaining about what a jerk he is. But right now, I just see it as what it is: simple teasing that means no harm.

“It is a bit more complicated than that. But I did not steal anything from anyone.”

“I know, Inés. I know you would never do something like that” Víctor says. “But I'm glad you've found someone who makes you that happy. Someone who loves you the way you deserve.”

“Thank you” I say.

“Have I earned that hug now or…”

“Fine” I sigh, rolling my eyes but smiling. “Come here.”

“Thank you” he says while hugging me, my brain still trying to process everything that just happened.

Nerea tried to ruin my reputation, Víctor isn't really a dick, and now we are… friends? People who are friendly? We still have to work on that.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Mario? What are you doing here?” I say after opening my apartment's door.

“Hello, Inés” he smiles. “May I come in?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you” he says.

“Do you want something to drink?” I ask him once we are in my living room.

“I'm fine, don't worry.”

“Ok…” I say, sitting down next to him. “Did something happen?”

“It actually did, yes. Or may be about to.”

“What?”

“It's about Pedri, Inés. I fear he may be about to shut down like he does when he is too stressed, and that this time it is gonna be bad.”

“What?” I repeat.

“Have you noticed anything different lately?”

“This week we haven't talked much because I've been really busy training and then playing. But the last time we video called, he did look a bit off, yes.”

“Off or angry?” Mario asks me.

“Both?”

When I noticed that he was acting a bit weird, I asked him if he was ok and he told me that he was just worried about his mum. She had had a bad fall while cleaning the bar and hurt her leg, and he wished he could be there to help her and his family. But when I offered to buy him a plane ticket to go to Tenerife, he refused and even got a little mad with me.

“I have never seen him like this, Inés. We have argued in the past, but right now, anything I tell him or do seems to annoy him. Sometimes I'm scared of sneezing in case it would bother him and he will yell at me.”

“Really?” That's… I can't imagine Pedri behaving like that.

“Yeah” he sighs. “And I don't know if he is acting like this because he is stressed, because he feels useless being here and not with his mum, because of the argument with Nerea…”

“Wait, wait, wait. He had an argument with Nerea? When?”

“A few days ago. Didn't he tell you?”

“He did not, no.”

“It was bad, Inés. So bad. She suddenly showed up at our place, and after exchanging two sentences they both suddenly started to yell. Even our neighbours came to check what was going on because of how loud they were being.”

“What were they arguing about?”

“Do you seriously have to ask?” Mario chuckles. “They were arguing about you.”

“Me?”

“Inés…” he sighs. “I could tell you everything they said to each other, but I think that's a conversation between you and Pedri, one you have to have the two of you alone. Though you actually have to talk about a bunch of things and not just that, the main one being your feelings for each other. Like, you don't know how many times I've told him to do it since things started to change between you two a few months ago.”

“So has Carla…” I sigh.

“We finally agree on something” he chuckles. “But… I… I don't know. Maybe this is a mistake because it is your relationship, not mine, and I probably am the worst person to get involved in something like this since I can't even find the courage to ask the girl that drives me crazy to go on a date with me.”

“Talking about someone in particular?” I ask him, arching an eyebrow.

“Don't change the topic of conversation” he says, his cheeks turning bright red. “What I want to say is that… That I care about Pedri. I truly do, he is my best friend. And I know you love him and that he loves you too, and I fear that you guys may end up hurting yourselves and each other and ruining your chance of finally being together because you can't sit down and fucking talk. So, Inés…” Mario says, taking a deep breath. “Please talk with him and finally have that conversation. Because I… I…”

“We will” I say, taking his hand on mine. “I promise you we will.”

“But do it soon. Because if Pedri keeps behaving like this, being this… angry with the world… I don't know.”

“I promise you it will be soon, Mario.”

And I may have just come out with the perfect plan and moment to do it.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I thought you didn't like celebrating Valentine's day, Inés.”

“And I don't.”

“Then why have you decided to drag me into the woods today of all days?” Pedri asks me.

“Because I happened to have no training today and the weather finally was good enough. And I'm not dragging you anywhere, stop complaining.”

“Beg to differ” he murmurs.

“Did you say anything?”

“Nope, nothing” he says as we continue walking in silence. At least until he finds something new to complain about. So far he's done it about the traffic, the weather, the people we've crossed paths with, the bugs, his shoes…

And had I dragged him out of his house to take him on a walk around the woods? Maybe. But it had been the only way since he was already starting to shut down like Mario feared, ignoring most of my calls and messages.

So I had packed us two backpacks with everything we may be needing for our walk, from food and water to an extra pair of socks just in case, and showed up at his front door, annoying him until he had finally said yes.

“Are we there yet?” Pedri asks me.

“Almost.”

“Urgh” he groans.

“Tired already?”

“No.”

“It's ok if you are. We can stop and eat a snack or something.”

“I said I'm not tired, Inés” he spats, walking past me.

That's it. I've had enough.

“That was fucking rude, you know?”

“What?”

“The way you just talked to me” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Whatever” he says as he keeps walking.

“Don't whatever me, Pedri!” I say, raising my voice and not moving from where I am. “What is going on with you? Why are you behaving like this? Because this isn't like when you start shutting down and ignoring people. This time you are treating us all like shit and jumping at our throats for nothing.”

“Us? What do you… Oh, Mario. He talked with you, didn't he?”

“Of course he did. He is your best friend, he is worried about you!”

“Maybe you all should stop worrying about me.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“Exactly that, Inés!” he says, now being the one who is raising his voice. “Stop worrying so much about me and treating me as if I was a damsel in distress who needed your help! Your money!”

“Wait, wait, wait. Are you this angry because I offered to pay you a ticket to go to Tenerife and see your mum?”

“Yes! No! I mean… urgh!” he says, kicking a rock.

“Yes or no, Pedri?”

“Inés, I… Can we talk about this later? Maybe somewhere else and not in the middle of the freaking woods?”

“Hell no. We are talking about this right here and right now. We've actually come here today to finally have that conversation we've been avoiding for months.”

“What?”

“Pedri, I…” C'mon, Inés. Don't be a coward now. Tell him what you feel for him. “I like you.” That wasn't it, but it's something.

“I know” he replies.

“But what you don't know is that I've liked you since the moment I met you. Since that first day of uni when I walked into our classroom feeling like my stomach was about to explode because of how nervous I was, and I saw you talking with some of the boys and making them laugh. I liked your smile, your accent, your eyes and your kind of silly haircut, those freaking lips that were made to kiss and being kissed. And I've kept liking you all these years even if you were with someone else, feeling content just with a smile or an Instagram like, not caring if that made me the most pathetic woman in the world. And when things started to change between us a few months ago, when we started to get closer, I... A part of me was telling me that I was fooling myself again, that it was happening the same it had when we met, that you were just being nice with me because that's who you are. That you aren't the type of guy who would cheat on his girlfriend. But then, you were doing and saying things that looked and felt as if you were flirting with me. Like, that whole churros date? That was pornographic at times, Pedri. And even though I didn't want to get myself involved in any cheating, we kept getting closer and I couldn't help but let myself go and start daydreaming about us being together. About you finally leaving Nerea to be with me. And then you actually broke up with her, Tenerife happened, we met each other's families, and I… I…”

“You?”

“And I've found myself falling in love with you, Pedri. And maybe it is a mistake, maybe it is just a way to hurt myself. But… It is what it is” I sigh. “And I thought you felt the same for me. I mean, everyone has been saying it for the past few months. Even Nacho has! Nacho. And last month Nerea told me that you have always been in love with me and not her and…”

“And she wasn't lying.”

“What?”

“Everything you just said… That's how I've been feeling all these years too.”

“What?” I say again.

“I've also liked you since the day I met you, Inés. Since the day you walked in our classroom and sat too far away from me.”

“Far away? I was like a couple of seats to your right” I chuckle.

“Like I said… too far away” he says, taking a step closer to where I am standing. “And if I was saying all those silly things to make the others laugh, it was because I wanted your attention. Because I wanted to make you laugh.”

“I… Umm…”

“You were the only girl I could think of. The only one I wanted to be with.”

“Then why did you stop talking to me? Why did you make out with Nerea at that party?”

“Because I'm stupid and I got scared.”

“What?”

“Inés, you are… You are freaking amazing. You are intelligent, talented, funny, extremely beautiful. And I'm… I'm no one. I'm just a boy from Tenerife who struggles to make it to the end of the month.”

“Pedri…”

“I know, I know. I know I'm not less than anyone else, that I should not compare myself to others or think that I'm not worth it because I don't have enough money. I know that now even if sometimes those thoughts still creep up like they did earlier.”

“You mean…”

“All that damsel in distress shit, yes” he says. “Since I moved here I've been very insecure about it, and when I met you and I saw you achieving all those things with your career, I felt like I wasn't enough for you. That was one of the reasons why I stopped talking to you so often, because I thought I wasn't worth it of you.”

“Pedri, you are worth it. You are so fucking worth it” I say, closing the space between us a bit more. “Of me and of anyone. And if they can't see it, that's because they are stupid.”

“Thank you” he says with a shy smile. “But that's something I've only realized now after being with you, after everything that has happened between us. Before that I kept feeling like I wasn't enough and that's why that night at that party I let Nerea kiss me. She had been after me the whole night, you know?”

“Sounds like something she would do.”

“Yeah” he chuckles. “When I saw you with Vic and Lucía, the three of you dressed up as angels…”

“You thought we looked ridiculous.”

“I thought you looked exactly like how angels are supposed to look, Inés. And I wasn't worth it of that. Of you. So I just… you know” he shrugs.

“Pedri…”

“I've spent the past three years with someone I didn't love because I didn't think myself worth it of the person I actually loved. Because I was a stupid coward who thought that as long as we were friendly, as long as I could get your Instagram likes and see you smile from time to time, it would be enough. That I could just survive with that. But while I was fooling myself with those thoughts, I wasn't doing the same with everyone else. Our friends could see that there was something else going on, and Nerea could see it too. And as you became more famous and more people talked about you… as you kept being more successful in your career... she got more and more jealous. And I got so tired of that. Tired of the way she talked about you, the way she treated you… I was ready to end things with her, I was done. But destiny had other plans when it got me drunk that night with that one drink” he smiles.

“That feels like it happened a long time ago.”

“It does” he says, now just a step away from me. “I know I could have done things better. First break up with her and then gotten closer to you. Because if something hadn't interrupted us all those times we were about to kiss, I would have done it, Inés. I would have kissed you. And that would have been messy and not fair to Nerea even if I didn't love her and things weren't good between us. But I… I…” he says, taking a deep breath. “Inés, I love you.”

“You…” Fuck. Shit. He loves me. Pedri, he… bloody hell.

“And I just made you freak out” he chuckles. “I'm sorry if it is too soon to say it, but I just do, Inés. Like Nerea told you, I've always loved you. It's always been you. And I'm sorry if earlier I was too harsh, if the way I spoke to you hurt you. But between the way I get during exams, Mario constantly reminding me that I needed to tell you how I felt, what happened to my mum, and then an argument I had with Nerea the other day…”

“Mario told me it got really bad. That even the neighbours had gone to check what was going on.”

“Yeah” he sighs. “I had never seen her like that. She had said mean things about you before, but she had never insulted you that way. And that made me so angry, that I started yelling as well. And when she ran out of things to say about you, she went after me. Among things that I think I deserve, she said that I had just used her for her money and that I was now doing the same with you. That I had been with her while waiting to see if you would be successful or not to then leave her the moment you became famous because I only cared about money since I didn't have it.”

“What?”

“I apparently am a gold digger and a gigolo. Her words, not mine” Pedri says with a sad laugh.

“Is that why when I offered to pay for the ticket to Tenerife, it bothered you so much?”

“It is, yes” he sighs. “And it also is why I snapped the way I did earlier. Because I had Nerea's words stuck in my head and I… I… I'm sorry.”

“It's ok” I say, caressing his cheek.

“I am so sorry, Inés. For everything” he cries. “For being so insecure and hurting you the way I did years ago. For being a coward and not telling you how I felt and everything I feel for you. For not telling you that I love you.”

“It's ok, Pedri” I say, cupping his face. “I wasn't the bravest girl out there either, was I?”

“But you… you… I'm sorry” he says before wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me as if his life depended on it.

“It's ok” I whisper while caressing the back of his head, trying to comfort him. “It's ok, let it all out.”

I don't know how long we stay like that, hugging in the middle of the woods while Pedri cries on my shoulder. But when he finally moves his head to look at me, his body has stopped shaking, he is breathing normally, and the tears on my clothes have dried.

“What a way to spend Valentine's day, uh?” he chuckles.

“Isn't this how you are supposed to celebrate it? By sharing your feelings for each other in the middle of the woods and crying a bit?”

“A bit” he snorts.

“Ok, fine. Maybe it was more than just a bit. But this is what I see on Instagram. We are just missing some heart shaped chocolates and some champagne.”

“Please tell me you put that on our backpacks” Pedri says. “I could do with some alcohol and sugar right now.”

“I put something better. But I can't show you here, we haven't made it to my favourite spot yet.”

“We have to keep walking?” he complains. Though unlikely before, this time I can see that he is just teasing me.

“Sorry” I shrug, taking a step back and leaving his embrace. “But it will be worth it you'll see. Shall we?” I ask him, offering him my hand.

“Fine” he sighs before taking it.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Worth it or not?”

“So worth it” Pedri says, hugging me tighter.

After a few more complaints from his part and some teasing from mine, we finally made it to my favourite spot in the woods, a little clearing from where you get some of the best views of the city, which is what we are doing right now. Enjoying the views and each other's company after a little brunch that consisted of my famous tortilla de patata and, of course, my favourite beer.

“Valentine's day worth it?” I ask him. “I'm not into that stuff, but if we were a couple that celebrated it...”

“Valentine's day worth it” he replies, kissing my cheek. “And now that you mention that we are a couple, and since we've opened our hearts to each other…”

“Eww, cheesy.”

“Oh, shush!” he says while tickling me and making me laugh. “But now that you've mentioned it, there is something I've been wanting to ask you for a while. I was actually going to do it in Manchester but… I chickened out.”

“Welcome to the club” I chuckle.

“Yeah, well” he says, moving until he is facing me. “Inés…” he says, caressing my cheek before putting a lock of hair behind my ear.

“Pedri…”

“This is serious, Inés.”

“I know.”

“Then stop smiling like that.”

“How?” I laugh.

“Like that” he says, pointing at my lips.

“Make me” I smirk. Woah, am I…

“Are you drunk?” he laughs.

“I may be a bit tipsy, yes.”

“You did drink that beer as if it was water. And by now you should know what happens when you drink alcohol too fast.”

“That you end up sleeping on someone's sofa and making churros in the morning.”

“For example” he laughs. “Anyway, you are distracting me from what I wanted to ask you.”

“Guess you were right when you once told me I can be very distracting” I say, leaning forward.

“You have no idea” he replies, doing the same. And he has no idea how kissable his lips look right now. Like… ugh. “But, question first.”

“Pedri!” I complain when he moves just as our lips are about to touch.

“Inés… Inés.”

“What.”

“Inés, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“What?” Oh, here she is again! The woman who can only say one word: what.

“Inés, do you want to be my girlfriend?” he repeats.

“Are you being serious right now?”

“Very serious, Inés.”

“Have I ever told you that you say my name a lot?” I laugh. “Though I love the way my name sounds with your accent. It is so soft…”

“I say it a lot because I like it a lot. And I asked you a question, so, Inés…” he smirks. “Do you want to…”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes. I want to be your girlfriend. But do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“I do.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure” he chuckles. “I love you, Inés” Pedri says.

“I know” I smile before kissing him.

Usually that would be an answer that would make the person who just confessed their feelings for you feel like shit. But in our case, that makes Pedri smile from ear to ear before my lips touch his.

Because even if I'm not ready to say those three words aloud just yet, he knows that's how I feel too.

That I love him, and that I love him very much.

[fictionadventurer]

*

[bunnyboy-juice]

spent the first hour and change at work deleting some old files and am having a grand ol time laughing at myself for not realizing i was a lesbian sooner

[thesummerstorms]

*Arsinoë de Riva has been succinctly explaining that the Crows took her from the Circle/Templars with perhaps a bit more admiration/respect than is called for given that there was an exchange of coin involved for her life and then she was immediately bartered between houses in exchange for a gambling debt*

Davrin (disapproving): So the Crows whisk you away and... what. Immediately start teaching the kidnapped ten year old to stab people?

Arsinoë, unruffled: Twelve year old. I was a late starter. But, no, actually, my mother taught me to stab people first. Didn't have much practice, but the intent was there. Helped with the late start.

Davrin: Wait...

Arsinoë: Apostates, remember? And she'd been one a lot longer than me, obviously. She always told me growing up that a Templar would never hesitate to Smite you, but most of the time they weren't going to expect a mage to go for a knife.

Lucanis: Amateurs.

Arsinoë, with perhaps just a touch of side eye: And good thing, too. I'm just as glad they didn't have your expertise.

Davrin: And your mother told you this theory when you were...?

Arsinoë: Dunno. Templars took me at eight, and I'd definitely been practicing before then, but I don't really remember details by now. Ma was always a pragmatist though.

Harding, who has been silently sitting in the corner with a cup of tea listening to this conversation unspool (silently, to herself): What the fuck.

[the-casbah-way]

i found loads of pictures of my uncle i am going 2 cry

[boomerang109]

empathy is so dumb. like oh that person is having a hard time so now i’m gonna go home and be sad about it? ruin my own night? wow that’s so helpful to them

[aphantimes]

how can knuckles just not know how he became the guardian. like. what is going on there. how can you just have no idea how you started doing the thing your whole life revolves around. what.

what.

[skrunksthatwunk]

found out that rascal's owner took him again while i was out, and he's probably not gonna be back since the semester's almost over. i don't even know if his owner's coming back next semester, if i'll ever see him again. if he'll ever see me again. why do they wait until im not around to do this? why do they never let me say goodbye to him?

[enbysiriusblack]

had loustat!wolfstar and danmand!jegulus thoughts.

[weezerlvr228]

It's giving the...main character syndrome. like who tf does she think she is??? Y/N???

NO OH MY GOSH ANON. LET ME TELL YOU. LET ME FRIGGIN TELL YOU.

[scentofpines]

my brother visited us today and OH MY GOD AM I GLAD HE'S FINALLY GONE. i cant pinpoint exactly what it is about him but i find him so hard to deal with. he seems very "unproblematic" for lack of a better word and chill and nice etc. but he is also kind of a control freak (in a subtle way) and VERY patronizing and he always inquires (not asks lmao) how i am doing and i always dread this question bc he just won't let it be when i say i'm fine and always sorta wants me to pour my heart out to him?? And I. just dont want to??? Lol. Like today he asked again "how are you?" and I said I'm pretty good BECAUSE I ACTUALLY WAS OK I WAS FEELING WELL and then he was like "yeah? really?" in a very questioning voice ughhhhh. i fucking hate this, it also just feels kind of devalueing to my progress. like i'm having a fairly good time and then there's this dude basically reminding me that i'm supposed to be depressed bc i guess that's just my personality. this doubting thing he always does just pisses me off so bad.

and then later we were just completely casually chill chatting together with my mom and out of fucking nowhere he was like "so what about therapy for you?" and I thought i didn't hear him correctly and I was like????? What the hell are you talking about? And then he just kept saying that i should try therapy again and i was very confused bc it came so suddenly and also i am currently absolutely not planing on doing a therapy. i had my share of experiences with therapists and i'm just not up to it right now. but he was very pressuring like "it could really help you" etc. and kept saying all this shite as if i myself have actually NEVER thought about this. (he is like this very often, for example when my mom and i talk about how we are planning on moving to south west france in the future, he is always like "do you know how complicated it is to move to another country??? do you know how hard it is to take care of a farm???? do you know they speak french there????? do you have brains?" SHUT UUUUPPP) and the thing is when i push back then and voice my opinion of not wanting to do this or, like in the "how r u" situation, insist on being fucking FINE or even just saying or heavily implying that i do not want to talk about this stuff with him it ALWAYS makes me look like i have an even bigger problem because 1) i "lie" about how i'm doing 2) i don't open up about my feelings to anyone 3) i am an idiot that refuses therapy. HE ALWAYS MAKES IT LOOK LIKE THIS with the the way he speaks to me.

I know he means well but it just feels extremely annoying, nosy and infantilizing.