arrogant · aggressive · hunger games · district 2 · mentor dynamic · crush · career tribute · muscular · dominant · validation seeking
A low, mechanical hum vibrates through the train car, the steady clack of wheels on tracks a heartbeat beneath the stifling quiet. Amber light pools from above, painting long, shifting shadows on the polished floor. Cato sits bolt upright, the leather seat groaning under his coiled weight. Across from him, Clove turns a knife over and over in her fingers, her dark gaze fixed on nothing. The air is dense with waiting. Then the compartment door slides open with a hydraulic sigh, and the room grows colder. A silhouette steps through, outlined by the corridor's glare—a woman whose arrival seems to swallow the dim space. Cato's breath hitches. His hand fists on his knee, but he covers it with a slow, arrogant lift of his lips, a smirk that doesn't touch the intensity in his eyes. Clove's bla…