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(one)
Peeta’s father went to visit Katniss’s mother, just once, after Katniss’s father died.
He didn’t really know what he would say, but he let his feet lead him down the path into the Seam and to the door of the Everdeen house. He hadn’t even realized he knew where she lived until he reached it.
Maybe he would say I’m sorry or it’s going to be okay or I’m here for you or I love you.
They used to be friends, a long time ago. They used to be friends, neighbors, sneaking off to each other’s houses after dinner. They bested the years of adolescence together and held each other tight each year when they didn’t get picked for the games. They were lucky. They survived. You couldn’t say that for many people in District 13.
But then one day, she was gone, ran off with a miner. And maybe he never quite got over that, the fact that the games let her stay but a simple miner took her away from him and she never came back. Even now, when the miner was gone, she will never return to him again.
So he turned around and walked back home without knocking on the door.
—
(two)
Haymitch first met Effie in the Capitol, when he was training for the Quarter Quell. Twice the number of tributes meant twice the number of opponents to kill in order to get home alive. Because Haymitch never cared about the victory. He just wanted to get home alive.
Effie was only nine at the time. She was the daughter of one of the staff members who milled around watching the tributes’ every move during training.
"What is a little girl like you doing here?" he asked.
"Oh, it’s all very exciting," she said. "I love the Hunger Games."
He thought he would be sick. Capitol children, loving to watch other children kill each other. He gave her a disgusted look and walked away. “It’s not all it’s hyped up to be.”
Later, after he’d won, he met her again in his Victory tour. She told him that she rooted for him and was glad he won, even though he was kind of mean to her.
And every year after that, he would bump into her in the Capitol when he went as a mentor for District 13. Every year, he watched her slowly grow up into a beautiful women who hid her face behind such hideous makeup and it drove him mad.
Then, one Reaping, she just showed up at District 13, saying how she finally got a job in the games, just like she always wanted. Haymitch was so drunk, he couldn’t even bring himself to care. They passed their years like that, getting together every summer like some terrible definition of friends, always bickering over plans and schedules and alcoholism and the tributes and mahogany and stuff.
He realized that he’d probably be in love with her if she wasn’t so irritating.
—
(three)
Primrose Everdeen has a secret and, okay, don’t laugh, but, well, she sorta kinda maybe has this tiny little crush on Gale.
Yes, he’s so much older than her and probably only thinks of her as a child, and yes, he’s completely in love with her older, stronger, prettier sister, and yes, he would never ever settle for someone like her. It’s just a harmless little crush, okay? In fact, people probably think she fancies Rory instead, she spends so much time at the Hawthornes.
But Gale makes her feel safe, that’s all. Katniss is thousands of miles away fighting for her life in the games and Prim is so scared her sister won’t come home alive. And whenever she starts to cry while watching the games broadcast, Gale always comes over and pulls her into his lap and holds her until her tears run dry.
Katniss isn’t here, but Gale is. He’s the only thing she can hold onto now. So as she clutches onto his arms, he leans down and whispers, “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything hurt you, ever.”
—
(four)
Maybe District 2 wanted to play the star-crossed lovers card too.
Maybe that was their plan all along, right from the start, but maybe Cato was so nervous he couldn’t figure out how to work it into the interview, or maybe Caesar asked all the wrong questions, and maybe Cato walked off the stage without ever mentioning his dying love for Clove and officially screwed up the plan.
But maybe it was all for the better.
Maybe District 12 was better for that trick than they’ll ever be.
—
(five)
The Hunger Games were long over.
The revolution had succeeded, Panem was a new nation, and no one else was going to die. Katniss settled down with Peeta, eventually had two children, and it was pretty damn close to the happily ever after she never allowed herself to dream.
Yet something about the new regime, the stagnant end to the revolution, the way they just sent the Mockingjay away…there was no resolution. It was all over now. So why doesn’t it feel like it?
Blame it on the harsh conditions she was brought up herself or the battle mentality ingrained into her mind after her time in the games, either way, Katniss began training her children. Just basic skills, like how to shoot, how to climb trees, which berries they can eat in the forest. Sometimes, she let them race in the open field, let them practice running as fast as they can.
Peeta didn’t approve, but he didn’t say anything. He kept telling her nothing would happen, but Katniss couldn’t shake the memory of the odds not being in her favor.
"You know," she explained to him, "just in case."