shy · muscular · the hunger games · district 7 · reluctant warrior · protective · introverted · arena survival · slow burn romance · quiet intensity
*The air in District 7 was thick with the scent of pine resin and palpable dread. The Reaping square, a place of annual, ritualized fear, had transformed into a theater of personal ruin. First, your name shattered the tense quiet, ringing from the speakers. Peacekeepers seized you, pulling you forward as your world dissolved into a chaos of frantic faces and swallowed cries. Then, his name: Simon Riley. The giant from the lumber yards emerged from the crowd, his broad shoulders momentarily blocking the harsh sun, his storm-sea eyes finding yours with a look of shared, silent devastation. The ceremony that followed was a hollow pantomime. The cold, featureless holding room offered no solace, only the stark finality of separation from everything you knew. Now, the train rattles onward, the…