When they watched the recap of the tribute parade, Blaine finally let Quinn talk openly about the other tributes, mumbling small opinions alongside hers. Mainly just about how the District 2 tributes looked like they were already preparing to rip everyone’s heads off and then how neither were sure how the District 11 tributes even managed to remember to stand still, by the way that their dazed faces were gazing somewhere far off, and definitely not in a way that their stylists would have instructed.

“How do they remember how to breathe?” Blaine commented distastefully.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem” Quinn replied, smiling happily at him. Blaine eyed her for a second before turning back to the screen.

“And then there’s us” Blaine added, standing up from the sofa and brushing his pants down.

Blaine turned to Taylina, thanked her for the ceremony outfit and then took off for bed. He stripped down to his underwear and climbed beneath the sheets. It barely felt like he had even drifted to sleep when a loud knock on his door and Effie’s chirpy voice signalled the arrival or morning and time for breakfast. Blaine groaned, wiping his face over a few times with his hand until he felt more awake and dragged himself to go clean up. He showered quickly, still not quite sure how to get the water to jet out in a less forceful way, but he stood and span under the water until he felt cleaner, and then climbed out, dressing in the outfit which Taylina had left for training before leaving his room to go down to breakfast.

Quinn was already waiting in the room, sitting in the same training outfit as Blaine. All tributes wore the same, the only difference being the number on the side of the sleeve which signified the District they were from. Blaine ate silently alongside Quinn, until Effie walked in flagged by Mayor Undersee, a tall man wearing a light blue suit. His glasses were steamed up a little bit; he bought them down to the bottom of his shirt to wipe clean before returning them to his face and turning to smile at the tributes.

“Mayor Undersee will be your mentor from this point forward, since Haymitch can no longer be held accountable for you.” Effie introduced, taking a seat opposite Quinn.

Mayor Undersee stood for a moment before seating himself next to Effie, opposite Blaine. Blaine swallowed his food and then dropped his cutlery noisily onto the plate, sitting back.

“Today you start training.” The Mayor started. “My only job for you is to make some friends.”

Quinn and Blaine exchanged a worried glance, but the Mayor continued talking.

“You don’t want to go into the arena and be the single target of all of the other tributes, especially the Careers. You know how well they are taught to fight, you’re at the disadvantage. I need to know if either of you have any strength, particularly.”

“I...I don’t” Blaine stuttered, turning to Quinn as if to prompt her, but she just gazed back with a confused glance.

“No. I...me neither.”

The Mayor gave them a small sad smile. “It’s okay, we’ll figure something out.”

Effie took them down to the gym, leaving them at the door and wishing them the best of luck. Blaine smiled gratefully at her; she really wasn’t that bad when people gave her a chance.

They walked into the gym together, a couple of feet apart but very much keeping one another grounded and safe. Blaine caught eyes with a few of the tributes; he quickly noticed that they, him and Quinn, were some of the last tributes to arrive. A few minutes after they joined the line where all of the tributes were stood waiting for further instruction, the door of the gym slammed, and the female District 1 tribute’s laughter echoed hauntingly around the room.

Blaine turned around on instinct, seeing both District 1 tributes walk leisurely across the room, both suppressing laughter and glancing at each other, letting out small laughs.

The trainer, Pheeb, began describing each station, varying from survival skills to combat training. Blaine headed straight over to the camouflage table after he saw all of the other, stronger tributes walking over to throw spears, axes and knives at various moving and stationary targets. Blaine didn’t want to already be the laughing stock of all of the tributes, he’d rather wait until they were all preoccupied before he tried out throwing anything, so he decided to take his hand at camouflaging, try to make his arm look like a piece of wood. After talking to the camouflage trainer for a while, Blaine took an attempt, coming up quite well after just over an hour of adding several colours and variations of mud-like acrylics to his arm and hand.

At lunch, Blaine sat with Quinn, both of them silently spooning small mouthfuls of food, not really that interested in eating. Quinn told Blaine how she’d done some training on climbing and managed to get to the top of the highest wall in the quickest time, much to the District 2 and 3 tribute’s dismay. Blaine smiled, showing her his arm and what he’d managed to achieve.

“Blaine, that’s amazing,” she gasped, fingertips tracing over the different patterns.

“Thanks” he shrugged it off, walking with Quinn back out into the gym.

“Are you going to try some combat?” she asked quietly, both of them watching as the District 1 and 3 tributes were taking turns in tossing an axe at the wall, getting a perfect line from all four.

“I dunno...maybe.” Blaine said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think I’m gonna go over to the knives...see if I can at least stab something”

Before Quinn could reply, Blaine was walking solemnly over to the empty knife station. He spoke to the trainer for a few moments, the other man explaining how he should try and throw it at the target a few metres ahead of him.

“Okay...so, just throw it?” he clarified, sucking in a breath. The trainer nodded and watched carefully as Blaine held the knife back, twisting the handle in his hand a few times before throwing it towards the target. It hit one of the outer rings of the target, and Blaine sighed, dropping his head before turning around, lifting it back up just to look directly into the eyes of the District 1 male tribute.

“Let me show you,” he said quietly, smiling at Blaine through his cocky expression. He lifted a knife from the table and moved to stand where Blaine was standing just a few moments before, taking one more smug look at Blaine, he threw the knife towards the target, hitting the centre exactly with precision.

Just as Blaine sighed again and turned to walk away, Kurt grabbed his wrist.

“I’ll teach you”

“I don’t need-”

“Just look, okay?” Kurt insisted, passing a slightly smaller knife over into Blaine’s palm, picking a slightly larger one for himself but small enough for Blaine to be able to copy. The trainer removed the two previous knives from the target and allowed Kurt to show Blaine how to throw them.

“Okay, hold it back how you did a second ago...” he instructed, looking carefully at Blaine’s arm as he did so. “Alright, angle it down a bit more, you’re holding it way too high, you need to aim.”

“Just leave it” Blaine said in exasperation. “I can’t do it”

“Stop it.” Kurt snapped, holding his wrist again. “I’m trying to help you. Listen to me.”

“Fine.” Blaine pulled his wrist out of Kurt’s grasp, and angled the knife down how he described.

“Okay good.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Now just throw it, hard, look right where you want it to go, and pull it back a bit, when it’s level with where you want it, let go”

Blaine put his tongue between his lips in concentration, trying to follow Kurt’s instructions exactly. When he felt right, he threw the knife, letting go right at the moment Kurt had said he should. It hit the target, not in the centre but a lot closer than his first attempt.

“Not bad, 12.” Kurt smiled.

“Thanks” he mumbled. “I don’t think knives are for me.”

“You’ll find something” Kurt replied softly. “Good luck”

Kurt walked away, heading over to the bow and arrows station, picking one up easily, slipping an arrow into it before pulling back expertly, turning towards Blaine and hitting the target next to him, right in the centre, closer than Kurt’s own knife did. Kurt grinned at Blaine, placed the bow down and walked over to where Santana was watching him carefully from the axe station.

The next few days followed a very similar routine; Blaine wandered around alone, trying to find different things that he could do. He tried out climbing, which he realised very quickly wasn’t for him, archery, which almost resulted in him being asked not to try anymore as he very nearly hurt himself in the process of trying to hit a stationary target. He left that station quickly, moving over to tie some knots, something which he actually managed to do quite well. Along with this, he made a fire with ease; it was something he’d had to do a couple of times when they were at school.

By the final day of training, he was at a complete loss of what he would do to present himself to the Gamemakers, as all tributes had to. They would give him a score based on his performance which is all that the Capitol public and potential sponsors would know of him until the games began, it could give him the edge to actually stand a chance, not that he did.

“Do you know what you’re going to do?” Quinn asked quietly as they waited to go into the Gamemakers. They went in District order, starting with 1, the male tribute first.

“I don’t know, maybe some camouflage or I might tie some knots or something.”

“You can throw a knife” Quinn added thoughtfully, Blaine mind flashed back to the District 1 tribute being able to shoot an arrow from the other side of the room better than he could throw a knife from a few metres.

“Barely” Blaine replied bitterly, just as he was called to go to the Gamemakers.

“Good luck” she added, she shot him a sympathetic smile before he disappeared into the room.

He walked in slowly, all of the Gamemakers watching him carefully as he found his way to pick up a knife from the table, twisting it into his hands. He stood a decent distance away from the first target, angling it up just how the other tribute had showed him; he shook his head clear of all of the training memories, and threw the knife.

He missed, over aimed and threw way too hard for it to lodge securely into the target, but because of the angle he stood at, the knife kept going until it hit the more advanced target a lot further behind it, directly in the centre of the bulls eye. Blaine let out a small gasp as he realised what he’d done, and he turned his head to notice some of the Gamemakers writing notes.

As he realised he didn’t want to screw up whatever had just happened he decided to build a fire from the most difficult substances he’d been successful with in training. As the fire burned on, he got some rope and managed to create something that he could assemble food with to put over the fire. As he finished with that, he decided to try his luck one more time, he walked over to the knife station and picked up one of the lighter knives, sucking in a breath he eyed the fire carefully, before aiming expertly and throwing the knife towards it. Once again, luck caught him. The knife lodged directly between the pieces of rope which he had created to assemble food. Smiling to himself, he turned to the Gamemakers.

“Thank you, Mr. Anderson. You may leave.”

*

Blaine left the training centre, finding his way directly to his shower so he could get rid of all of the sweat coating his body underneath his tight uniform. He stripped down just as the door shut, and jammed the buttons until water ran freely out of the shower, and as soon as it was hot enough, he stepped underneath, letting it wash all over his body.

Once he was clean, and no longer trembling slightly from the suspense of everything of the day, he dressed in slacks and a shirt and made his way down to dinner, where he was greeted by Effie and Mayor Undersee.

“How was it?” The Mayor immediately questioned.

“It was okay. I don’t think it was anything special, I don’t really...have any talents or strengths.”

“Well we’ll see.” Effie added, passing Blaine a plate. “Serve yourself.”

Once Quinn had joined them, and they’d discussed how Quinn showed off how fast and agile she was to the Gamemakers, they made their way to watch the scores be revealed. As always, the District 1 tributes both scored 11s, nothing unusual for them, and everyone had already seen them in training. The other Careers scored 10s and 11s, everyone else gaining 6s and 7s. When it came to District 12, Blaine looked at Quinn nervously, but she just smiled back supportively.

Blaine scored a 9, and Effie let out a small noise of delight. Quinn, scoring a 10, got a huge hug.

“I think we should celebrate!” Mayor Undersee said, smiling as if this was the best news he’d ever had.

“I’m just going to go to bed, I think. We’ve got...a big day tomorrow.” Blaine said, smiling at his own use of Effie’s signature phrase.

“Be down here for breakfast tomorrow, we have coaching sessions before your interviews” Mayor Undersee added, smiling at them both as they left the room.

They walked silently down the hallway together, until they reached Quinn’s room, where Blaine turned to her.

“Well done, Quinn. I’m proud of you” he said quietly.

“Thanks. You too, at least we stand a chance now, right?”

“Yeah” he replied before turning to walk back up to his bedroom.

*

The coaching sessions were no way near as stressful as Blaine had expected. He stayed with Mayor Undersee, discussing how he would come across to the Capitol public. Mayor Undersee had tried a few things with him, but being an only child Blaine had never really had so much experience with playing those role play type games.

“Okay, how about you just try be a bit more confident than usual, make it seem like you really do have a chance, because the Gamemakers clearly think you do, Blaine, you need to believe in yourself.”

“Okay” he agreed reluctantly.

“Go off and see Taylina, she wants to show you what you’ll be wearing tonight.”

Blaine smiled and thanked the Mayor on his way out, and made his way to see his stylist.

“Hello Blaine” She embraced him sweetly, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Hi” he replied softly, letting her arms rest on his arms for a few seconds before she turned excitedly further into the room.

“Okay, we didn’t want anything too distracting for your interview, but we wanted something that added to the mystery theme, so you’ll be wearing this.” She pulled back a curtain to reveal white denim jeans, a black shirt and a black leather jacket. “It’s simple, it’s got the black white theme going for it again, and it’s not something that going to deter from you.”

“It’s perfect” Blaine said quietly. “Thank you.”

He was so thankful for having Taylina as his stylist, the one thing he hated was how dressed up everyone always looked, it was so false, but this was absolutely perfect. She seemed to understand him in a way that he didn’t even understand himself.

*

Later that night found Blaine seated on stage, bright lights all around him and his face varied with the other tributes up on huge TV screens all around the screaming and cheering crowds of the Capitol. Caesar Flickerman waved to the yelling fans as he introduced the Hunger Games interviews and drew attention to just how close the games were from that moment on.

He introduced each tribute for 3 minutes, in District order, starting with the female tribute. Blaine watched as Santana Lopez, swayed onto the stage, pushing her cleavage out just that bit further as she sat down, her short dress riding even further up her thigh until it was barely visible from the side of the chair. She flirted easily with Caesar and the Capitol crowds’ right down to the last second when the buzzer sounded and it was time to move on. The male District 1 tribute, Kurt Hummel was up next. He took a slightly different approach to his interview; obviously the clear friendship between District 1 and the Capitol was evident in the way that they joked about luxurious items and the difference in stance between tributes like Kurt and Santana, and then the people from Districts 11 and 12. Kurt seemed a bit uneasy talking about that, and as soon as Caesar talked about his parents, it hit Blaine why.

“So your mom grew up in District 12, tell us about that.”

Kurt didn’t even blink for his response, something he’d clearly rehearsed. “Not much to tell, she knew how to work her way up, and she wanted better for her family than to live there”

The buzzer sounded, and Kurt moved down into his seat, staring down the line of tributes.

Before long, it was Quinn’s turn, and she was graceful and charming. Something Blaine hoped he could be too. She spoke about her childhood, growing up in the mining district and she even dropped in how amazing Effie had been for them both during the preparation for the games. Caesar chuckled in response, adding “It’s great to see the Escorts getting some kind of notice this year!” Eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd. The buzzer sounded and Caesar helped Quinn down the steps and back to her seat. Last up was Blaine.

“Hello Blaine! How do you like the Capitol?” Caesar grinned at him, his white teeth sparkling under the lights.

“It’s very beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it; it’s like a dream world.”

“Ah, a dream world!” Caesar mimicked. “What a lovely sentiment. Has everyone been treating you well?”

Blaine snuck a quick glance to Kurt and then straight back to Caesar, but he managed to see Kurt smiling at him.

“Everyone’s been very welcoming, it’s lovely to be noticed around here...back home I’m just another boy amongst the hundreds.”

“Well we’ll always welcome you here, Blaine, always.” Caesar was practically drowning in the sweet act that Blaine was giving to him, both of them bouncing off of one another to gain the right amount of ‘aww’ and ‘oh’ from the audience.

“Thank you, that’s very kind.”

“How about a girlfriend, Blaine? Any girls back home?”

Blaine laughed a little, feeling a bit lightheaded from the lights and cameras all on him. “Erm, no, not exactly. I mean, I’m gay.” He admitted.

“Well that’s fine with me! A boyfriend, then?”

“Uh, no. No. There’s not really many people who would accept me...at home.” He dropped his eyes to his lap, a lump in his throat as he tried to swallow. Even if by some miracle he made it home after this, people in District 12 wouldn’t accept him.

“Well, if you win this thing, you can come live here, and have all the guys you want! How does that sound?” He laughed. “Doesn’t that sound good, ladies and gentlemen!?” he turned to the crowd, gaining screaming cheers and yells from them as they clapped him. The buzzer sounded just in time, and Blaine walked down from the stage. Quinn clutched his hand as he sat down and she squeezed it tight.

*

Blaine awoke the next morning feeling as if he’d actually had a decent night’s sleep, one of the first since he’d arrived in the Capitol. There was just something so lonely about thinking about his parents back home in District 12, splitting some bread for their breakfast whilst he’d been indulging himself in the Capitol, eating until he literally couldn’t anymore.

He dressed in the outfit which had been left out for him. All of the tributes wear the same thing in the arena, and this year it was a dark brown jumpsuit with leather boots and a brown jacket with a waterproof hood. He slid his ring, which he’d had to give to the Gamemakers to check that it wasn’t going to develop some lethal weapon out of like a girl a few years ago, who tried to take in a bracelet which expanded and developed poison coated spikes if tugged in the right direction. It’d been given the all clear though, and he slid it onto his right ring finger and took off down the corridor. He’d been told not to go to breakfast, as they were going to eat when on the hovercraft to the arena. He didn’t even get a chance to see Mayor Undersee or Effie, he was simply greeted by Taylina, who checked over his jumpsuit and told him to be prepared for forests, rain, warm weather and lots of places that he’d have to climb around. The boots had a deep tread on them, so she said to be prepared to run a lot. He tried to remember as much as he could, but bodily instinct took over and his stomach was growling loudly by the end of her instructions to him.

“Let’s get you some food” She said, taking him over to a sofa where she ordered him some chicken and bread. “I hope it’s alright, I don’t want you eating too much and getting sick before you go in, or worse, when you’ve just got in.”

“It’s fine, thank you so much.” He took a bite of the bread as it arrived in front of him, and kept eating as Taylina talked to him.

“Mayor Undersee told me to give you some instructions, because he was unable to see you last night.” Blaine nodded. “He told me to tell you that once you get into the arena, run. Find a water source, try and find some food. Do not stay for the fight at the Cornucopia. Just run.”

“Okay” Blaine agreed.

“And he said that when you need to sleep, camouflage yourself. We all know how good you are, we saw your arm that day after training. You need to focus, and do it properly; otherwise you’ll be found by the Careers.”

“Okay” he obliged again.

“Let’s head to the roof” She said sadly, taking Blaine’s hand and helping him up once he’d finished enough of his food. Blaine let his hand slide into hers and they walked together silently to the roof, neither needing to say anything. Blaine stood on the ladder to the hovercraft as Taylina nodded gently at him, telling him silently to just wait. The electric current of the ladder froze him in place, and he felt a strong jolt in his arm as a doctor placed the tracker into it. This was to make sure that no matter where he goes in the arena, they can find him. There’s nothing worse than losing a tribute.

The hovercraft took flight, Taylina offered Blaine bits of bread which she’d managed to get from one of the Peacekeepers. He took little bits gingerly, not feeling very hungry anymore as the nerves and anxiousness settled in.

As they reached the launch room, Blaine started to feel sick with stress and nerves, so he began to push the bread away from him, and leant forward resting his head in his hands.

“Not long now, Blaine.” Taylina said softly, hoping it’d offer some sort of comfort. It didn’t.

They waited silently after that, until it was time for the launch. Taylina walked Blaine over to the metal plate which would launch him into the arena, and held his hands in hers.

“Remember to run.” She said, smiling at him. “And don’t forget, you’re the perfect image of mystery. The audience won’t know what to expect.”

“Thank you, for everything. I couldn’t have asked for a better stylist.” He said honestly, trying to express everything through a few words.

A glass cylinder lowered around him and his plate began to move upwards with it. The hot air hit his face as soon as he drew his eyes away from Taylina’s apologetic face, and he looked up and around himself, taking everything in. His plate stopped and he was able to see himself, and the other tributes.

No.

Half of the other tributes.

There were no female tributes at the Cornucopia.

The sixty seconds begun, and Blaine was counting them off in his head. He gazed around the circle of tributes, and then to the Cornucopia. There were weapons and bits of food lying around, a knife right next to his plate, so he’d make a note to grab that before running. He turned his head and caught sight of what seemed to be endless woods. Looking back to the tributes, he could see almost all of them, the first 4 male tributes were concealed around the other side of the Cornucopia, but he knew they were there. He could see the other tributes looking at them. The countdown begun.

10

He looked around once more, frantically trying to figure out his plan.

9

The knife. He’d grab the knife and run.

8

There was a bottle of filled water just a couple of steps in front of him, he could grab that, then the knife and then run. He’d be useless without water.

7

None of the other tributes were looking at him, they were all looking at the huge weapons in the centre of the Cornucopia.

6

Was there a second Cornucopia? Or were the female tributes left around the arena, trying to find their way here?

5

Knife. Water. Run.

4

3

2

1

The cannon blast and the Games begun.