#clove thg

[nourtarts]

felt the spirit of the hunger games take hold of me and drew a bunch of characters from the first book the way I imagined them! might post finnick and the catching fire gang later

#sorry if haymitch is a little intense lmao i had a little too much fun with him #the hunger games #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #gale hawthorne #haymitch abernathy #effie trinket #primrose everdeen #madge undersee #rue thg #cinna thg #thresh thg #foxface #glimmer thg #marvel thg #clove thg #cato thg #thg #everlark

[kitkatdoodlez]

Some biblically accurate tributes

#combined with how I pictured them when I first read the books in like 5th grade #thg #thg fanart #the hunger games #the hunger games fanart #cato and clove #clove thg #thg clove #Cato thg #thg cato #Cato Hadley #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #glimmer thg #rue barnette #rue the hunger games #thresh thg #foxface #foxface thg #art #fanart #illustration #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark

[cloveswifey]

Made it out

Pairings: Cato Hadley x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Hunger Games, mentions of death, blood

Type: Fluff?

Words: 1.0k

Cato had never imagined that he would be volunteering for the Hunger Games. He had watched the games for years, cheering on the contestants from the safety of his living room. But now, here he was, standing on the stage and accepting the honor of representing his district in the games.

As Cato walked off the stage, he spotted his girlfriend Y/N in the crowd. They had been dating for two years, and he couldn't imagine his life without her. He made his way over to her, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Hey," he said softly, taking her hands in his. "I'm going to do everything I can to win this thing and come back to you. I promise."

Y/N's eyes were filled with tears as she looked up at him. "I know you will," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But please, be careful. I don't want to lose you."

Cato pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. "I'll be careful," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I come back to you."

Y/N pulled away from him, wiping her tears away. "I know you will," she said, her voice firm and confident. "But you need to go now. The train is waiting for you."

Cato nodded, taking one last look at Y/N before turning and walking towards the train. He knew that the days ahead would be filled with danger and uncertainty. But he also knew that he had something worth fighting for – the love of his life, waiting for him back home.

As the train pulled away from the platform, Cato settled into his seat and closed his eyes. He couldn't wait to get back to Y/N, to show her that he had won the games and defeated all of his opponents. But for now, all he could do was focus on the challenges that lay ahead, and hope that he would make it back to her safe and sound.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

Y/N sat in front of the television, eagerly waiting for her boyfriend's interview to begin. This was the only interview before the start of the Hunger Games and she wanted to see Cato's face, hear his voice, and find out what he was thinking before he entered the arena.

Finally, Caesar Flickerman's bright face appeared on the screen and the interviewer began his introduction. Y/N's heart raced as she watched her boyfriend enter the stage. Cato was now standing next to Caeser, looking taller and more confident than ever.

Caeser greeted him with a big smile and asked him how he was feeling. Cato responded, "I'm feeling ready for the challenge of the games. I'm physically and mentally prepared to give it my all".

Caesar Flickerman, sensing that the audience wanted something more personal and emotional from him, dove deeper and asked Cato more personal questions.

"So, Cato, tell us what you would do if you won the games?" he asked.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, Caesar. I'm going to win for my family, for my district, and for Y/N," Cato said, looking directly into the camera.

Y/N's heart swelled up for a moment. It felt amazing to hear that from him.

Caesar asked, "And who is Y/N?"

Cato smiled and his eyes sparkled with affection, "Y/N is my girlfriend. She's the most important thing in my life. We've been dating for two years now and I love her more than anything else in the world."

Y/N blushed, feeling happiness and butterflies in her stomach after hearing those words. It was like the entire arena and television audience had disappeared and it was just the two of them, connected by their love for each other.

As the interview came to a close, Cato looked into the camera and addressed Y/N directly, "Stay strong and have faith, Y/N. I'm doing this for us."

Tears rolled down Y/N's face as she watched Cato exit the stage, feeling grateful and confident in Cato's ability and promise to come out victorious.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

Y/N watched anxiously as her boyfriend, Cato, entered the arena of the hunger games. She knew he was a fighter, but the thought of him being hurt or worse, losing his life, sent shivers down her spine.

As the games progressed, Y/N watched every moment, glued to the television screen, anticipating every little sound and movement on the screen. Each day, she hoped that Cato would survive and make it out alive.

Finally, after weeks of waiting, Y/N saw Cato emerge from the arena, victorious. He was battered and bruised, but alive. She could hardly contain her excitement, running towards the train station where he was to arrive.

As he stepped off the train, Y/N could barely contain her emotions. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck, tears streaming down her face. Cato held her tightly, both of them feeling each other's warmth.

"How did you do it?" Y/N asked, looking up at him in amazement.

"I did it for you," he said, beaming. "I had to come back to you."

The two walked back to their home in District 2, holding hands tightly, taking all the excitement in. When they arrived, they sat on the front porch, cuddling and talking.

"I'm just so glad that you're back," Y/N said, holding Cato's hand. "I couldn't handle losing you."

"I never stopped thinking of you," Cato whispered, stroking her hair. "It was you that kept me alive."

They sat for a few more moments, taking in every little detail of their surroundings before finally, they leaned in for a kiss, held tight and passionately.

"I love you," Y/N said, looking deeply into Cato's eyes.

"I love you too," Cato replied, a smile spreading over his face. "Always will."

#cloveswifey #cato hadley imagine #cato hadley scenario #cato x reader #cato hadley #Thg #clove thg #thg marvel #thg movies #thg katniss #thgedit #thg books #Thg fix #thg fic #peeta imagine #hijacked peeta #peeta mellark #finnick imagine #sarah cameron #jj maybank #outerbanks #rafe cameron #rafe cameron imagine #obx #outer banks imagine #sarah cameron imagine #jj mayback imagine

[smollandkindaannoyed]

You know what Hunger games book I want. I want a career book. I need a career book. I need to read how these kids get groomed into the mindset they have. I need to read how all of this training gets scooped into them. I need to read how these brainwashed kids realize how they were groomed, how their childlike innocence was taken from them even before entering the games and they fully lose themselves inside of the games.

Because you can not give me characters like Cato and Clove, where Clove screams for her district mate when close to death and Cato begs her to stay alive, where Cato talks about already being dead anyway so what would one more kill matter. You cant give me Coral (who I know the 10th games dont have careers yet but her mindset seems to be the closest to careers during her game) who while dying begs that it isnt fair that by dying like that she killed everyone for nothing. Like how dare these movies and books give me career characters which are just children who have been so indoctrinated with these mindssets with these ideas that winning the games will bring them glory and pride just for all of that to be shattered when they have blood on their hands and then not give me at least one book exploring this kind of character.

#the hunger games #thg series #thg #cato #cato thg #clove #clove thg #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #thg careers

[catoscloves]

you know cato & clove really pulled a "they know you walk like you're a god, they can't believe i made you weak" because cato is truly one of the most violent arrogant bullheaded people in the arena according to katniss's description and he spent his entire life believing in this doctrine of honor and how murdering other children would give him a god-like status and make his district proud, and that he's capable of fulfilling that. he acts like nothing can touch him and mercilessly cuts down others in the arena but when clove was dying he was no longer "brutal, bloody, cato" or the violent bloodthirsty egotistical district two kid, he abandoned all that because his district partner, ally, his (presumably because of his reaction to clove's death) friend was lying on the ground in intense pain and about to die, and he didn't want her to, so he literally begged on his knees for her to stay with him. cato was this untouchable god but she made him weak and human.

#strange love by halsey #strange love #halsey #forever obsessed with them your honour #clato #the hunger games #cato x clove #cato thg #clove thg #anna speaks

[clatoera]

Masterlist of Chapters: Always Remember We’re Burned For Better

hey guys! I just wanted to make a post with the links to each chapter of my Clato AU both here and on AO3 for convenience and easy tracking purposes.

I won’t be too verbose and will just get into it!

Chapter One: Crimson Clover    Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Two: Still, the Yearning Stays   Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Three: Checkmate, I Couldn’t Lose Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Four: I’ve Loved you three summers now honey, i want ‘em all Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Five: It’s Been a Long Time Coming Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Six: Everybody’s Watching to See the Fall Out  Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Seven: All These People Think Love’s For Show Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Eight: Would’ve. Could’ve. Should’ve. Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Nine: Everything was slipping right out of our hands Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Ten: Our Coming of Age Has Come and Gone Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Eleven: Baby, Let the Games Begin. Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Twelve: Meet Me At Midnight Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Thirteen: Don’t Blame Me (Love made me crazy) Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Fourteen: Who You Are Is Not What You Did Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Fifteen: If I’m on Fire, You’ll Be Made of Ashes Too Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Sixteen: I nearly lost you (I really though i’d lost you) Tumblr|AO3

Chapter Seventeen: What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Want you More Tumblr|AO3

Chapter Eighteen: Not my homeland anymore...so what am I defending Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Nineteen: Always Remember We’re Burned For Better  Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Twenty: We Will Never Go Back to That Bloodshed Tumblr | AO3

Epilogue:  I Vow I Will Always Be Yours, For We Survived the Great War Tumblr | AO3

SEQUEL: Picket Fences, Sharp as Knives

Chapter One: At Dinner Parties, I Call You Out Tumblr | AO3

Chapter Two: Barefoot in the Wildest Winter, Catching my Death Tumblr| AO3

Chapter Three: All I Know, Is this could either break my heart (part 1) Tumblr| AO3

Chapter Four: ...Or bring me back to life (part 2) tumblr | AO3

Chapter Five: I once believed love would be black and white...but it’s golden. Like daylight. tumblr | AO3

Chapter Six: Not Trying to Fall in Love, but we did like Children running tumblr | AO3

Chapter Seven: They Got No Idea About Me and You tumblr | AO3

Prequel: You Don’t Feel Pretty, You Just Feel Used Tumblr| AO3

Associated works: because friends who write together stay together (or me being really thankful for my loves who share this with me)

1.  Dust Collected on my Pinned up hair: au of an au from @crookedlyniceperson for my girl glimmer

2. Enobaria and Cashmere being cuties talking shit drunk in bed from @bodyelectric77

3. Honeymoon: Cash and Enobaria in D1 post war  @bodyelectric77

4. In a world of boys he’s a gentleman: glimmer and marvel get together THE fic i dream of sometimes @kentwells

#Clato #clato fanfiction #ARWBFB tag #the hunger games fanfic #the hunger games au #cato and clove #cato thg #clove thg #writing tag #this is also very glimmer heavy #its about the careers #this is a careers redemption arc #glimmer and marvel #glimmer thg #marvel thg #thg careers #cashmere and enobaria tag

[mellarkdandelion]

I’m dead anyway. I always was, right?

cato hadley scenes from The Hunger Games (2012)

#the hunger games #katniss everdeen #thg #the hunger games gif #katniss gif #clove the hunger games #the hunger games books #the hunger games movie #the hunger games trilogy #cato thg #clove thg #thg glimmer #thg cato #thg series #clove x cato #cato #cato hadley #cato gif #careers #thg career #thg gif #thg marvel

[tellmelater]

cato and clove

#digital art #artists on tumblr #my art #suzanne collins #thg #thg fanart #the hunger games fanart #the hunger games #cato #clove #cato thg #clove thg #district 2 #clato #cato x clove #chariot outfits

[everythingcalypso]

She was an icon

#the hunger games #clove thg #clove the hunger games #clove and cato #district 2 #throwing knives #clove and katniss #thg trilogy #thg fandom #thg fanfiction #thgedit #thg books #thg fanart #hunger games #katniss everdeen #katniss and peeta #movies #dystopian #president snow #cato thg #icon #the hunger games Fashion #thg fashion #gif #thg gif #the hunger games gif #the hunger games pics #behind the scenes #villain #scary

[j4zz4lop3]

“Blablabla clato is the better ship”

“Noooooo glato is”

“Lol I just cut out the middle man and ship glimmer and clove with each other”

“I think this discourse is stupid and ship cato with marvel as a joke lol”

“I ship marvel with clove/glimmer because i headcannon cato as dating the other one”

Guyyysss they’re literally polyamorous. They’re literally all so hot they just started dating eachother. Clearly.

#the hunger games #thg #poly careers supremacy #alternatively can get completely rid of marvel #nobody really likes marvel anyways #clove thg #marvel thg #glimmer thg #cato thg #glato #clato #most ship discourse can actually be fixed with polymory but y’all aren’t ready for that #not katniss peeta and gale tho #that one is obviously one right and one wrong option

[thefloatingwriter]

everyone sees it (except for me and you) by ang3lic1

summary:

“You don’t see it?” Brutus asked after a second of surveying her. Enobaria simply shook her head, now confused herself.

“See what?”

Brutus’ mouth now gaped open. “Cato and Clove?”

Enobaria was starting to get annoyed, and she showed it by yanking the knife she had thrown out of the dummy particularly violent. “What about them?” she snapped.

Her fellow mentor opened and closed his mouth a few times before snapping it shut. Finally, Brutus laughed a little. “You’ll see."

or,

5 times Enobaria doesn't understand what's happening between Cato and Clove, and 1 time she does.

#dayne writes #my writing #thg #the hunger games #clato #clove kentwell #clove thg #cato hadley #cato hunger games #cato thg #enobaria #cato x clove #my fics

[yellow-but-depressed]

Who was the most lucky and un-lucky person from The Hunger Games trilogy?

Why do you pick them? Please give reasons.

You can interpret the luck and un-luck thing however you want.

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

Actually, i think the most unlucky person in the trilogy was Clove. No, okay hear me out, with everyone else the odds were stacked against them: Katniss was always an underdog, Prim wasn't even 14 when she died, when she fought in a war, Peeta was always Katniss's weakness, ect. ect.

But Clove. She had all the odds. She was deadly, smart, and from one of the better districts. All things considered she probably should have won, the reason she died- she said one wrong thing. If she hadn't said anything about rue then thresh wouldnt have intervened and Katniss would have died. But she did. All it took was one mistake. Which is why she's unlucky

#clove thg #district 2 #thg #clove and cato

[ilovepadme]

REQUESTS OPEN

(Hunger Games)

I’m currently focused on Katniss, but I’d be open to writing for other characters too!

#the hunger games #katniss everdeen x reader #katniss everdeen #katniss and peeta #peeta mellark #finnick odair #thg finnick #peeta x reader #thg #haymitch abernathy #thg haymitch #johanna mason #prim everdeen #thg katniss #clove thg #cato thg #fanfic #reqs open #request

[cloveswifey]

Alone

Pairings: Marvel Sanford x Fem!Reader

A/n: apologies for the photo icba to make a collage.

Warnings: the hunger games, mentions of death, falling in love, the arena, blood, death, swearing, arguing, isolation/being left alone, apologies

Type: Angst - fluff

Words: 1.0k

Y/n had always been fascinated by the Hunger Games. She had watched every year, rooting for her favorite tributes. But now, she was one of them.

As she walked into the training center in District 1, she felt a rush of excitement and fear. She knew that she would have to train hard if she wanted to survive.

That's when she saw him. Marvel, the most skilled hunter in their district. He was practicing his aim, throwing spears at a target with ease.

Y/n was impressed. She had never seen anyone throw like that before. She walked up to him and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Y/n. I'm training for the Hunger Games too," she said.

Marvel looked up and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Y/n. I'm Marvel. I've been training for this my whole life."

They spent the rest of the day training together, learning from each other. Marvel taught Y/n how to throw a spear and Y/n showed Marvel how to shoot a bow.

As the days went on, they grew closer and closer. They talked about their families and they even shared a few laughs.

As they got older, their friendship only grew stronger. But as the games grew closer, things began to change. Y/n started to see Marvel in a different light. She began to realize that she had feelings for him that went beyond friendship.

Marvel, too, was starting to feel something for Y/n. He had always admired her intelligence, her sense of humor, and her training skills. He was starting to realize that he was in love with her.

One day, as they were training, Y/n decided to tell Marvel how she felt. She took a deep breath and said, "Marvel, I have to tell you something. I think I'm in love with you."

Marvel was surprised but also relieved. He had been wanting to tell Y/n how he felt for a long time. "Y/n, I'm so glad you said that. Because I think I'm in love with you too."

The games were approaching, and Y/N and Marvel couldn't help feeling a bit anxious. While it was expected for Marvel to participate, hearing Y/N's name announced as well would undoubtedly make for an interesting story, to tell.

Effie Trinket's announcement of "y/n l/n" made Marvel's heart skip a beat. Without hesitation, he immediately volunteered as soon as the boys' names were called out. It was now a fight for survival between the two of them.

Yes, Y/n had been training for the Hunger Games for months, but she had never expected to be paired with Marvel, her boyfriend and one of the most skilled hunters in the arena, besides Cato.

The two had obviously, formed an alliance, but things were starting to get tense.

Y/n was scared and wanted to stick together, but Marvel had trained his whole life to hunt other tributes. He didn't want to stay put and wait for the other tributes to come to them.

"Why would we intentionally run into the enemy?" Y/N asked her boyfriend.

"I don't want to stay in one place and wait for the other tributes to come to us," Marvel replied. "We should be taking the fight to them and eliminating the competition."

"But what happens when everyone else is dead?" Y/N asked, already anticipating the answer.

Marvel shook his head, scoffed, and walked away, leaving Y/n alone without a response.

Y/n was left feeling alone and scared. She didn't know what to do without Marvel by her side. She tried to make a plan, but it was difficult with no one to bounce ideas off of. As the hours passed, she started to feel hopeless.

Just as she was about to give up, she saw two tributes heading towards her. She tried to fight them off, but she was badly injured. She knew she was going to die.

But just as she was about to take her last breath, Marvel returned. He had seen the two tributes heading towards their camp and had come back to help Y/n. He fought off the tributes and saved her life.

Y/n was grateful for Marvel's help, but she was still upset about the argument they had earlier.

"Y/n, I need to talk to you," Marvel said, approaching Y/n, as she collected wood off the ground.

"What's going on?" Y/n asked.

"I wanted to apologize for leaving you in the arena," Marvel said. "I know I should have stayed and fought with you."

"It's okay," Y/n said, trying to hide her disappointment. "I understand why you did it."

"No, it's not okay," Marvel said. "I should have been there for you, like a good boyfriend, and I wasn't. I promise I won't let you down again."

"I appreciate that," Y/n said, smiling. "But we need to focus on staying alive and getting out of here."

"You're right," Marvel said, nodding. "Let's work together and get through this."

The two realised that they were better together than apart. They made a plan to work together, using Marvel's hunting skills and Y/n's quick thinking.

As they continued through the arena, they faced more challenges, but they worked together to overcome them. They grew closer and closer as they fought for their lives.

In the end, they emerged victorious. They had won the Hunger Games together, as a team. They hugged each other, both feeling grateful for the other's help. They knew that they would always be there for each other, no matter what.

#cloveswifey #marvel sanford #the hunger 1983 #clove the hunger games #Thg #thg fanfiction #thg katniss #thg haymitch #Thg marvel #Cato #Cato hadley #clove #clove thg #clove kentwell scenario #marvel #marvel Sanford imagine #imagine #imagines #thg incorrect quotes #thg books #thg lb #thg fanart #thg headcanons #thgthg #thg fic #thg movies #thg meta #thg finnick #thg rp #the hunger games peeta

[kentwells]

who am i to ask for more, more, more

i haven't written fic in at least four years (maybe five which is batshit time is really a bitch) but i was so desperate for more fic abt these losers that i had to write some. title is from "waiting room” by phoebe bridgers!

i love the careers because they are obviously lethal and terrifying and brainwashed and insane. but also the scenes in the movie where they're running up to the water & laughing at the other tributes? they were raised without childhoods but they are also your average teenage bullies and it's so interesting to me. that is like. what i was getting at here. they did not realize being kids was a choice.  also huge thanks to @clatoera​ for talking endless stuff abt domesticity & ambition with regards to cato & clove!! and giving me some inspiration for the scene by the lake thank you so much for reading <3

AO3 link | fic under the cut off

When the 12M announces his love for the 12F, Clove rolls her eyes. It is, however, interesting enough for her to look at the screen instead of staring off into space. His cheeks are flushed pink, his eyes like a child’s. The district stylists might have forced Clove to look like a child, with a puffy orange dress and even puffier hair, but at least she doesn’t speak like one. The Capitol seems to think it something interesting, judging by the way the audience gasps. 

Cato lets out a harsh laugh, the same way he does whenever someone drops a weapon. Clove meets his eyes, and they share their 800th moment of knowing that no one else takes this half as seriously as they do. 

“This is a problem,” Brutus says.

“In what world?” Clove asks, rolling her eyes. Kids get crushes every day. She doesn’t know how many girls she’s ‘accidentally’ let a knife get too close to because they wouldn’t shut up about Cato in the dormitory. Even she has them. But she’s capable of ignoring it. Her heart can flutter all it wants to when Cato grabs her wrist, she’s still going to pull her shit together and wrench it out of his grip. Peeta, who only showed his strength after Katniss told him to and is willing to blush in front of all of Panem, is not going to be capable of that.

“It’s an angle?” Cato guesses. She can tell that he’s trying not to continue laughing, nervous to upset his mentor the night before the games.

Clove smirks. “A terrible one,” she says. “That’s basically saying you don’t give a shit about winning, who would sponsor that?”

“No one,” Lyme says. “But they’d sponsor the girl who kicked your asses in front of the Gamemakers and has a compelling enough personality for someone to love”. 

“Luckily, neither Cato or Clove are really going for lovable”, their escort laughs, though her eyes are still on the screen. 

Lyme’s eyes glint at her in the cold, detached way Clove has practiced in the mirror. “Long day tomorrow. Time for bed, I think.”

Clove takes the longest, hottest shower she’s had in years. Once her skin is burning and raw, she puts on a loose pair of pants and an impossibly soft blue shirt. When she gets out of the bathroom, Cato is on her bed, sprawled out like a puppy searching for attention. 

“Can you not get my pillows wet?” Clove climbs in next to him. Unlike the Center beds, these can actually fit both of them. Cato says nothing, just staring up at the ceiling, so Clove continues. “You don't even have to do any work to dry off here.”

“Who gives a shit, you have 20.” He tucks an arm around her waist, and she wraps a leg over his in practiced comfort. She doesn’t even give him shit for still being wet. It seems like a waste of breath right now. “12M’s an annoying little shit,” Cato says as she leans her head on his shoulder. 

Clove grunts. She agrees, of course. Her mind is still thick with Lyme’s suggestion that the 12M’s idiocy will reel in the sponsors. And every time she closes her eyes, she sees the spinning 11 superimposed over the 12F’s face, like a target she’s trying to hit.

“He’s not special for liking a girl.”

“I thought you were annoying, but you’re a fucking saint compared to him,” Clove snorts. He pinches her side.

“C’mon, Clover, that’s the lowest bar in Panem.”

“Give him some credit, it’s hard to be more annoying than you.” Clove grins at him, but it quickly turns to scorn. “He’s an idiot,” she says. “He wasn’t winning anyway, but his chances went from one percent to zero when he decided to commit to that act.”

Cato kisses the crown of her head. “He wasn’t winning anyway, let him have a last few moments of fun.”

For a second, Clove thinks Cato’s going to slide his hand up her shirt and go for his own last few moments of fun. Instead, he gently nudges her head off of his shoulder, shifts to one side and presses his head deeper into the pillow. “See you tomorrow,” Clove whispers.

 ࿏

 Cato is loyal to District 2 and to the Capitol. He didn’t need to be told twice, his eyes lit up when he first saw someone win the Hunger Games and they haven’t darkened since. These thoughts drum through his head on careful repeat, so loud that he couldn’t think something else if he wanted to. He eats on auto-pilot, creating a meal as close to what the Centre would give him as possible. Azalea, his jittery, pink-haired stylist sits across from him, eating nothing.

“Clove is about five minutes behind you,” she titters. 

Cato doesn’t respond. Clove is back in District 2, watching the stream with the rest of the Center kids. Azalea retrieved him from the 2F’s room this morning.

At this point, there is nothing for Cato to do. No one for him to spar, no one to beat. He settles for keeping his mind as blank as possible so that he doesn’t tire himself out. It’s a relief when he rises into the arena, to see the other tributes and the Cornucopia.

He waits a second after the cannon, having been warned one too many times about the possibility of dying from overeagerness. It’s satisfying to watch the tributes on either side of him peel away, clearly desperate to get as far away from him as possible. He has a good foot on the girl to his right, so he goes after her first. She doesn’t see him coming when he tackles her to the ground.  

Once he’s heard enough cracking from her bones and she’s coughing up blood, he pushes himself up and glances around for weapons. He sees a few swords and spears decorating the Cornucopia walls. A few feet before he reaches them, he sees a pack of knives, the kind Clove could strap around her waist. 

“Clove!” He shouts. The breath leaves his body when he spots her in hand to hand combat with one of the older girls. The second she glances up, he tosses the knives her way. Clove’s eyes light up the second she sees them. The older girl, who’s taller than Clove but made of nothing but bone, looks hopeful when Clove darts around her, and begins to make a run for it.

When one of the knives hits her calf, she falls, and Clove flashes Cato an absolutely lethal smile before kicking her over and slitting her throat. “I’ve got the 12F!” She shouts, breaking into a run across the edge of the clearing, and Cato turns to pick a sword. 

He just about blacks out for the rest of it. Kids die. He kills them. Someone makes a very half-hearted attempt to kill him and he snaps their neck. He had expected it to be more difficult, but everyone who ran towards the Cornucopia was hoping for a quick death instead of trying to avoid it.

“Let’s tally,” Clove says, cleaning one of her knives on her jacket. She’s lectured him about 800 times on proper knife care, and this does not qualify, but a good quality cleaning kit is probably too much to ask for. 

“Can we take a lap?” Glimmer asks, hands on her hips. “Some of them might have grabbed supplies, and there were definitely a few bodies with weapons sticking out of them.” She clears her throat. “And not to state the obvious, but why are you here?” She turns to 12M, who is inexplicably standing near them. 

Clove will give him credit for looking impressively unlike a deer in headlights and starting to speak for himself, but Cato beats him to it. “He’s leading us to his district partner.”

So he must not love her. Clove is taken aback by that – not because she believes in the purity of outer district crushes, but because she would have at least hoped he had a reason to sound like such an idiot on national television. “Does she believe all of the love bullshit?” she asks.

12M shrugs, and Clove can’t really be bothered to press. “Let’s do Glimmer’s idea and make sure we get everything before the hovercrafts come around.” Glimmer beams at her, and Clove turns toward the fallen tributes. She holds the knives she finds in her hand so that she can figure out how to clean them, and stalks around the clearing.

“I think you got blood on your jacket,” 12M says. He’s putting on a layer of bravado, but Clove sees right through it to the nerves. 

“Wait, was there blood around here lately?” Clove asks, her eyes wide and her voice saccharine sweet. “I must not have noticed!” She flashes him a grin that’s all teeth and turns back to the Cornucopia. They’re all covered in it – Cato’s hair is basically red, though given his height that’s probably from being flashy more so than real necessity.

“I’m Peeta,” he says, absentmindedly. From the slightly apprehensive way he looks at the bodies at their feet, he wouldn’t have lasted two years in the Center. Clove curses herself for not having slightly better aim, because if 12F was dead, she could just knife him and be done with it. 

“Clove.”

Once everything is collected and reasonably organized, the sun is starting to set. They agree not to set a fire before they need to, settling instead for the food that will go bad soon. Clove eats her apple and watches Glimmer and Cato from across the circle. She’s directly opposite them, so if anyone questions her, she can say she’s just staring into space. 

It's not like someone would, anyways. Marvel and Marina seem to have figured out that they aren't going to win, and even if 12M is still stupid enough to think that he has a chance, Clove could have him dead before he finished his sentence. Glimmer curls into Cato’s side under the pretense of warming herself up and attracting sponsors. Clove starts to feel a flicker of something detached. She wants more than anything to make a joke about how their matching hair makes them look like siblings, but that would ruin any chance of horny Capitolites sending them shit. 

She can save it until after the pack breaks. 

Glimmer adjusts herself so that her head is lying in Cato’s lap, and her body is curled on the ground. Clove catches Cato’s eye, and they both try not to laugh. Clove will give her some credit though — her head and vital organs are protected, and her back is to the Cornucopia. Glimmer may be annoying, but at least her survival instincts are decent. 

“Think it’s dark enough to hunt?” Marvel asks.

Instinctively, Clove’s hands go to her vest to run her fingers over her knives. “Hold on, I want to see who’s dead.”

As if on cue, the first bars of the Anthem appear. “Cato, tally?” He grins at her. “How the fuck did you get blood in your teeth?” she mocks, and his grin only widens. It's not really the arrogant smirk he’s been giving cameras for a week, much more the one he gives her after he bashes her with a pillow or plays a prank on his little sister.

Clove and Cato each have three, Glimmer and Marvel managed two apiece, and no one’s sure who got the last one. 

Countless trainers had warned her with sharp words, how dangerous it was to go into the Arena with a friend. Clove had worried about it, because she hadn’t gotten this far by ignoring the trainers, but everything was fine once they were in the Arena. She’s spent most of the last twelve years fighting with and against Cato. This is routine.

 ࿏

 Clove knows well enough to step away from Cato when he’s this angry. Her biggest reaction is to tilt her head to get a better look at the mangled way 3M’s neck holds his head and body together. It’s not that she’s scared – if she was really concerned, she could easily snap a knife somewhere fatal, especially with his reflexes slowed by emotion – more so that he’ll burn himself out soon enough. No one, not even Cato, can hold enough anger to throw a long-ass tantrum.

Out of the corner of her eye, Clove sees Marvel slowly backing away, three packs of supplies strapped to his body and spear in hand.

“Is the alliance over?” Clove calls out. He turns, slightly scared, to look at her. She grins, imagining how easy it would be to kill him right now for trying to sneak off. 

“I should think so,” Marvel says. “You should run from this bullshit while you can.”

Clove doesn’t even have to think in order to give him the coldest glare she can. “I don’t need to,” she says, her eyes immediately snapping back to Cato. Clove pulls herself up to a ledge of the Cornucopia and watches him rage.

She’s right, per usual. He kicks a pile of ashen supplies and lands on his back, and stays there, silently staring at the sky for a little while. He’s breathing hard enough for her to see his chest rise and fall. Clove jumps off the Cornucopia and walks towards him, eventually standing by his side and blocking the sun from his eyes.

“The Career alliance is over,” she says, offering him a hand. He uses it to pull himself up, and cards a hand through his hair. It’s too short for that, hair buzzed regulation short last week before the Reaping, but he does it anyways. “Not like any of them were much use,” Clove continues.

“Sticking together?” Cato asks. His voice is confident, but his eyes search hers. She’s half a step ahead in strategy most of the time, and smart enough to know he’s the biggest threat against her, all too comfortable ducking her knives and exploiting the few weak points she has.

He imagines them in the final two, the way they’ve talked about since they were eight, and how one of them will kill the other in a way that’s interesting enough to create an iconic story, but not too painful for the others. He thinks that he’ll kill Clove as quickly as possible and hack it to pieces until the hovercraft arrives. Clove’s eyes glint, something half steel and half something else. “Obviously.”

 ࿏

 “Tributes,” Claudius Templesmith’s voice booms through the woods around them, and Clove skids to a stop. “For the 74th annual Hunger Games, I am pleased to announce a rule change.” Clove turns to look at Cato. The Centre has stuffed her mind with hundreds of ways to play, but the only Capitol-created rule she can think of is ‘kill as many people as you can’. He looks just as confused as she feels, glancing around like Claudius Templesmith is hiding in one of the trees. “Under the new rule, both tributes from the same district will be declared Victors if they are the last two alive.”

“Under the new rule, both tributes from the same district will be declared Victors if they are the last two alive,” he repeats. His voice is even, as if they were too stupid to understand the first time, but it turns to wicked as he says “May the odds be ever in your favor” and his voice disappears as quickly as it came.

Clove is paralyzed, unsure of what comes next. Cato acts first, hoisting her up and knotting a hand in her hair. His hand sliding beneath her hair tie like he needs to be as close to her as possible. He’s probably mashing blood into her scalp, but there’s plenty of that there anyways. Her arms are around his neck, probably the first time they’ve ever been there without her making a move to cut off his air supply. Cato’s breathing is so heavy against her chest that she can feel herself shift with it. “Hi,” Clove mutters, because it’s all she can really think to do. 

Cato spins her around once before setting her down, but his arms stay on her waist. She leaves her arms on his shoulders, grip loose and easy. He looks at her with a new type of intensity, almost hopeful. “We’re winning this shit,” Clove tells him, without a single doubt in her mind.

He picks her up and swings her around again, and she would scream if he didn’t do this every time he was bored. “Abso-fucking-lutely.” Fuck the girl on fire, this is fucking fire, burning every obstacle in her path and making her future crystal clear.

Cato drops his pack and sits down, and Clove tumbles down next to him. Every bone in her body feels looser, itching for a fight but positive she’ll – they’ll – win it. She crosses her ankles over his, not bothering with any pretenses. They can both go home. No sense in making sure everyone knows how fast she could kill him. 

“I’m serious, Cato,” she says. She knows she sounds like a kid, but she can’t help it. If she had an ounce less of self respect, she would be jumping like a rabbit. “Serious. We can take anyone.” She glances around for where a camera might be, but decides to keep looking at Cato. “I’ve got long range, you’ve got hand-to-hand.”

“Perfect team,” Cato says, smug and satisfied and not with half as much cruelty as he normally says that. 

 ࿏

 They haven’t killed another tribute in two days, and the only thing on Cato’s mind is that he could have been doing this the whole time. He could have had two more weeks of throwing Clove into the lake without her worried that he was about to kill her. She never screams at home when he picks her up, too focused on getting him to drop her, but here, she laughs and shrieks like a kid from an outer district, playing up the childish thing sponsors seem to be in the mood for this year. She catches his eye when he takes his shirt off to clean up, and he is no longer a weapon that so happens to have this physical form but a fucking idiot that would trip on his own sword because she smirked at him.

“You know you like it, c’mon.”

“Like what, the fact that you won’t smell like rotting corpses and dirt for the next half hour?” He throws his shirt at her and splashes through the lake. She stays on the bench, carefully inspecting her knives, sharpening each one and tucking them neatly into the jacket she’s laid across her lap.

“Cato, I swear to Snow, if you come near me soaking wet, I will kill you,” she snaps, not even looking up from her knives. He laughs and wraps his arms around her shoulders anyways, laughing harder when she doesn’t squirm at the chill. He’s been doing this for years, trying to get a rise out of her because she hates how clammy wet skin feels. Normally, she’d have shoved him off hard enough to bruise by now, but she keeps her eyes trained on her knives and lets Cato touch her.

The metal screech of her knives against a rock keeps going. So does the sound of the water. Cato pulls his shirt back on from where it was on the ground and sits behind Clove, pulling her to his chest. She settles her head on his shoulder and holds a knife up to the sun to inspect it.

“If we win the same games, do we share a house and shit?” Clove asks. 

“Do you want to be roommates?” Cato asks, twirling the ends of her hair. It’s braided today. 

Clove snorts and tucks the knife into her jacket, apparently finding it satisfactory. Instead of reaching for the next knife, she slouches down and holds onto his wrists where they wrap around her shoulders. “I think that if you live alone, you’ll eat nothing but protein shakes.”

“Oh, and you can cook?”

“Yes I goddamn can,” Clove says, indignant, turning to face him. “I’m great at cooking.” That’s not out of the realm of possibility. He hasn’t seen her eat anything not given to them by the Center in years, but she’s good with knives and the smartest person Cato knows. “Will you cook for me when we win?”

“If,” Clove rams a sharp elbow into his ribs. 

Really, even if they were given two houses, Clove knows how quickly one would fall into disuse. The only reason they both actively use their own rooms are because their dorms are tiny, and at this point as stuffed to the brim with extra weapons and strategy books as Center regulations will allow. Most nights though, they crawl into the same bed after covering each other in cheap healing salve and trying to shake off the bruises, locking themselves to each other because the beds aren’t really big enough for two people. She knows that leaving the Arena together would sort of cement their melding into each other, making sure everyone who discusses them says it as catoandclove. 

She had promised herself that it would all end in Remake. They fixed her nose, which was well past crooked from the three times he had broken it. His skin is mostly clear of her tidy, elegant scars, only a few left for dramatic effect. And she had meant it, really, but now she’s thinking about how much of their goddamn stipend they’ll have to spend accommodating his ridiculous appetite and how she can win a fight over the thermostat.

“We need to get someone else soon.”

Cato exhales something long and heavy “Fuck yes. I think we should search out 12 and get it the fuck over with.”

“I’ll get 12F,” she says. She can sense his annoyance at that. “C’mon, I’ll make it entertaining. No one wants to see me methodically slice open someone who already can barely walk.”

“As long as it’s a good show,” he sighs. It will be. Clove imagines pinning her down, carving up her face so that no one wants to see her corpse. At this point in the Games, there are no slow deaths, not when it could be her last chance to slice someone open. Clove wants so much blood on her skin that she has to spend an hour in the lake to get it all off.

“Fucking obviously, who do you think I am?” Clove teases. She twists, albeit a little awkwardly, so that she’s properly facing him instead of pressed to his chest. The smile he gives her is lazy and content.

She slides a hand across his hip, searching automatically for the long, thin scar that should wrap around it. She finds nothing but smooth skin and a scrape, probably from a tree or some shit. She memorizes it, holding onto these new details. 12F and 12M, dying far apart and without the other knowing. An entryway littered with shoes and warm sweaters and a freshly polished rack of weapons in the Victor’s Village.

Cato leans in and kisses her, tugging her to lie on top of him. She’s about to lean back and curse him out for this, but the strategy seems to be working out alright for 12. And if she were in the Center watching this on a screen, she would be laughing with everyone else about how these kids are virgins who barely know each other. This easy affection, hidden among violent plans and strategies, is sure beneath her hands for the first time. 

(She’ll make 12F’s death especially brutal, and remind everyone that they should not fucking think about making fun of her.)

 ࿏

 5F would be hell to track if her hair weren’t bright red. He keeps seeing flashes of it in the distance, egging him onwards. Four more. He’ll take 5F, Clove will get 12F. If 12M doesn’t die on his own, he still won’t be able to put up any sort of fight. 11M will be a solid, respectable final fight, bigger than Cato but not nearly as skilled of a fighter, and Clove will back him up with her knives. It’s so close he can taste it, can’t stop thinking about sharing a bed instead of a shitty sleeping bag.

The first time he hears a Clove’s strangled, high pitched scream yell “CATO!”, he doesn’t slow down. He’s never heard Clove sound anywhere near that scared, not when the air is being choked out of her lungs or the night before a ranking exam. This is a Capitol trick, some sort of trap that he’s meant to fall into.

When he hears it again, every ounce of logic and training goes out the window, and he sprints towards her.

He doesn’t spot her at first, and there’s a wink of relief that she’s somewhere out of sight, ready to hurl knives at everyone but him, but then he sees a flash of red and brown against the grass.

Clove. The bubbled ponytail she tied and untied whenever she didn’t have enough to do with her hands. He is on his knees and she is next to him, a full on fucking dent in her head, lying on the ground, eyes still awake but no longer full of fire. He’s screaming, but he truly does not give a shit if someone hears. He’s easy enough to track down anyways.

And how the fuck could this have happened. How could a fucking nobody from 11 do this to her, careless and cruel, when she was the first person his age to figure out how to escape his chokeholds. 

“Clove, you’re going to get through this,” he tells her, and he does almost believe it. She’s broken endless bones without so much as crying. She likes doing things for dramatic effect – she’s doing this for sponsors, for attention, to create an iconic games moment that will be shown forever after they win. 

He maneuvers her so that her head is in his lap and tries not to think about how this feels like Clove’s dead weight, like lead weighing him down instead of the feather light Clove who fights back like a tiny speed demon. The last time she felt like this was in her dorm room, long after they had stopped pretending to analyze their earlier training stats, and Clove, flushed and catching her breath, fell asleep half on top of him. 

Clove’s always had a reputation for being cold. It annoyed the fuck out of Cato when they were younger, the way it was near impossible to get a rise out of her, but he likes it now. It’s most of why they were sent in together, the way he runs hot and impulsive and she stands a few steps above everyone else. This is different though, it’s not so much that her mind is whirring like crazy behind a thick shell, moreso that everything has gone hazy for Clove. Clove, who can muster a terrifying glare even while freshly concussed. 

On the ground, most of Clove’s energy is going to distinguishing one word from the next. The words Cato is saying are familiar – “I’ll slice him open for this, just how you like it. I’ll smash her head in, break enough bones that she’s unrecognizable. Remember – fuck, I still don’t know his name, actually – remember that kid that tried, yeah, I’ll recreate that, except now I can actually fucking finish the job.” She knows his threats, but his voice isn’t the hard monotone or reckless yelling she’s used to. It’s cracking like it hasn’t done since they were thirteen. She’s heard his voice wracked with emotion before, but never like this, equal parts warm and desperate. His hands cradle her cheeks, oscillating between desperately grabbing her like he can keep her alive with his touch and holding her face so gently that she thinks she might be imagining it. 

For a moment, she wonders if the cameras are still on them. She’s not sure where the line is – what violence the Capitol citizens find hot or funny or impressive, and what violence they find disgusting. Clove doesn’t find any of this disgusting. She knows Cato would do everything he’s promising if there were enough bodies in the arena for the amount of threats he’s making. He might use all of them anyways, to keep a promise to her or work out any extra anger.

He’s thought about this more than enough times since they were kids, the way he’ll eventually stand next to her dead body. This is a nightmare, the kind where he’s holding his breath and waiting to jolt awake in the Center, because she’s actually slipping away and he doubts she could so much as laugh at him right now and someone else did this to her and he wasn’t fucking there in time.

Cato doesn’t quite know what he’s saying anymore, but Clove does. It’s a babble more than anything, and she would bet that it’s because of his own emotion instead of her inability to distinguish words. He tells her that he loves the smirk she gives when she hits every bullseye in the training room and the way her face twists as she pulls her hair into a braid for training. He loves how she never slows down from an injury and the way she makes fun of him as she sews shitty stitches into his skin. He’ll do anything to try and make up for this, the way she lies on the ground, eyes glazing more and more with every minute.

She knows what he’s building to. And she already knows it, has for a while, really, but didn’t let herself think it until Claudius Templesmith told her she could. The two of them have endless, endless advantages over the 12’s, but at least those dickheads got to say whatever they wanted.

She can’t quite make words anymore. She can’t quite do anything. But despite the way she shakes violently beneath her, his knee is solid on the small of her back, and for once it’s not a trap. 

#clato #the hunger games #thg fanfiction #clove kentwell #clove thg #cato hadley #cato thg

[catoscloves]

young gods by catoscloves/enobarias

it was determined, long before they ever even met each other, that they would become both partners and enemies. cato and clove, each single-minded and driven mad with the desire to win, spent much of their time together before the games imagining the other's screams, looking forward to the honor of fighting side by side and then fighting amongst themselves for the honor of being labelled victor. however, this year's games don't follow their best laid plans. with these unpredictable changes, they'll have to adapt, and find that this world of beauty and slaughter dressed in glamor and championship is not so glorious as it seems.

cato and clove's path to becoming young gods, and, in a surprising twist of events, falling in love. (AU: 74th games, clato win, guaranteed happy ending. title and fic inspired by halsey's "young god.")

#minefic #**mine #clatoedit #clato #thgedit #thg #the hunger games #cato x clove #clove x cato #cato thg #clove thg #cato hadley #clove kentwell #mineaesthetic