//------------------------------//
// Training Day 2, Part 2 
// Story: A Games Like No Other 
// by TheGathering 
//------------------------------//

After the mandatory session of running the Gauntlet right after lunch ended, the Careers mostly stayed over by the weapons area, with the exception of Cameron who was too busy shooting bullseye after bullseye in the simulator. Soon enough though, Cato and Dollar trekked over there to meet him as he came out.

“That simulator your favorite training area in the Capitol?” Cato asked. 

“You fucking bet it is” Cameron replied. 

Then, all three Careers looked at where Plutarch was sitting, his usual smirk upon his face. 

“So.. an angry president who wants to deliberately eliminate a district’s tributes purely because the daughter of one of the most recent victors wasn’t allowed to die in the games as punishment for her winning on one side.. and a head gamemaker with an arena that was built in 3 months for some reason on the other. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place..” Dollar whispered. Cato and Cameron nodded in agreement. 

“Pretty sure our districts’ citizens will be fucking pissed at the fact that we’re allied with District 12..” Cameron whispered to Cato. 

Cato really didn’t say much in reply, only thing he said was the following. “Oh, how naive they are..”
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After training, Cato and Cameron paid a visit to the District 12 Floor. First to greet the two of them on this occasion was Haymitch. 

“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Change Of Heart and his possessive adopted younger brother” joked the Quell Victor, to which Cato and Cameron just rolled their eyes. “Oh come on? Nothing?”

Cameron just patted Haymitch on the shoulder. “Note to self, dude. Spend less time drinking and more time working on your jokes. That was awful” he whispered into Haymitch’s ear as Katniss and Peeta rounded into view. The other two District 12 Victors were not as much as surprised to see the two Careers as they had been last night. 

“Hey Cato, Cameron. Nice seeing you two again” Peeta greeted them. 

“Thanks. We just came up here to check up on Mina, which was his idea.. not mine” Cato said, pointing to Cameron. “And also, Katniss.. we think we know how you got that eleven last time. So, answer me honestly here.. did you or did you not shoot an arrow at the Gamemakers?” 

Katniss gasped, but nodded in reply, causing Cato to chuckle. “How the heck did you two figure it out?” Haymitch asked them. 

“Dollar from 1, apparently some of his friends back in the District told him some rumors about it, that it involved the gamemakers being distracted and an arrow.. so it didn’t really take long for me and Cameron to figure it out” Cato replied as Cameron trekked up to Mina’s room and went inside. 

Haymitch laughed. “Well, I have to say, boy, I’m impressed. Didn’t think that a Career could think like that.” 

Cato just rolled his eyes again. “Well, if your wanting to make sure the failures of last year’s games don’t happen again, you might as well get smarter.”
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Walking into Mina’s room and closing the door behind him, Cameron found the girl staring up at the ceiling, tears in her eyes. When she saw him, she got up, walked over to the taller boy, and hugged him, crying into his chest. “It’s going to be okay, Mina” he reassured the crying girl, petting her head gently. 

Mina looked up at him, her gray eyes staring up into his partly icey blue ones. “W-Why me? W-Why does S-Snow have to do this? I o-only volunteered for Primrose because she was Katniss’ sister. Now he wants me and the other tributes from 12 dead as punishment for Primrose not being allowed to die in the arena. I-It makes no sense..” she wailed. 

Cameron caressed her cheek gently, affection and empathy in his eyes. “That fucking piece of shit geezer is nothing but a monster. I used to think otherwise before last night, but after he said he wanted you dead, I-I just.. I don’t know what came over me. Right then and there, I felt like I had been betrayed by him and by the Capitol and felt the need to tear him apart right there.. Snow is a monster, and he deserves to die” Cameron said, letting Mina know the hatred that Cameron now held for Snow. “Like, fuck him. Fuck his stupid wishes. Fuck these stupid games. I’m getting you out of this arena, because I care and I wish to fucking defy his old ass. We’re in this together with Cato and the others. That’s a fact.”

Mina stopped crying and just stared at him. She felt adored, she felt joyful, she felt happy, she felt affection and.. love. That last one confused her. Why does he, a Career from her home District, make me feel love? Is it.. that I’m falling in love with him? She had to do a double take at that realization. She never had any boyfriends before, and really wasn’t crushing on anyone. All she had was her father, and everyone else she cared for out of generosity. With Cameron, though, here was a tribute that was literally turning against the Capitol.. all because of their attraction, and who seemed to be the first boy her age to actually care about her surviving or not. Sure, he was a Career, but he was a really handsome one. Just the thought of his name was sending butterflies through her heart and causing her to turn red like a rocket being next to him.

She turned her head away, embarrassed.

“You okay?” Cameron asked her.

Mina glances back his way, and she feels an overwhelming need to do something with her feelings. So, she stands up on her tippy toes, pulls Cameron’s head down to hers, and kisses him square on the lips. It’s only a second before the boy picks the smaller girl up by the waist and tilts his head back up and kisses her back. She wraps her arms around his neck and the two make out in bliss. At least until Cato opens the door just as Effie shouts out loud, “That is Mahogany! Are you nuts?!” 

All three look at each other, then Cato awkwardly laughs and closes the door after looking back at noticing Effie yelling at poor Dollar for getting the type of wood on the table wrong. Cameron turns his head back to Mina, who smiled at him. 

“S-So u-uh..” Cameron stuttered, turning red in the face. “G-Guess this makes us…” 

He’s interrupted by Mina who pulls him in for another kiss, then pulls away a few seconds later. 
“Yes, we are boyfriend and girlfriend because the only one I want right now is you” she says before they start making out again.