Chapter Text
The clock had been ticking to her shift's end but it wasn't fast enough. It never was, five at the dot and she was already contemplating leaving and just telling Dad that something came up.
Then something actually came up, someone actually, the glass door that they had installed so children and some sugar addled adults could get tempted by their sweets swung and in came Haymitch Abernathy.
She hadn't seem him in quite a while their teachers didn't mind students skipping class and he had a mum and little brother to look after, half the seam boys missed class to work odd jobs so did he. So the tiniest gasp she let out when she saw that he was even taller now was entirely her reacting in suprise and nothing more.
He was taller than six feet now, taller than most merchants and he definitely was the tallest seam boy around, maybe they were starving because he was hoarding all their food. His hair had grown quite long but it didn't look half bad, framed his blue eyes quite nicely— just from a purely aesthetical standpoint. Shaggy blonde hair almost reaching his jaw which had not a trace of a stubble, really highlighted his cheekbones.
She was shaken out of her observations when he cleared his throat, and looked straight at her with his piercing blue eyes.
"Do you have those rainbow gumdrops left," his voice was scraggly but deep, like it was reverberating in tiredness, he didn't speak much anyway in class so she hadn't noticed how deep it had actually gotten.
He was still looking and his eyes were too blue, they unnerved her. Merrilee was her mirror copy and she had never seen their shade of blue reflected in anyone else, seam or merchant; but that was what was unnerving her, they were the same shade as hers.
"Yeah one Panar for twelve pieces " she had all the prices memorized, but she still looked behind at the counter to compose herself. She was just tired and a little taken aback nothing she couldn't handle.
The gumdrops were pretty popular one of their most popular product infact, but they had to increase their price recently. Capitol had increased the price of sugar and also limited its total export to twelve, something about quarter quell preparations even though it was still almost a year away. The Capitol, all that style and no show. The price increase had cutoff a lot of business, and the little seam side customers they got was gone completely now.
She saw Haymitch's face fall, first he looked down then he looked at the gumdrops sitting beneath the glass counter then he looked at her.
"It was ten Cenars for fourteen gumdrops a month ago" there was anger, barely restrained anger that echoed through each of his words. He wasn't gritting his teeth, but there was a definite tightness in the way he spoke. Like he wanted to scream but he knew he couldn't.
"Well I just work here itchy, take it up to the Capitol for increasing the sugar cost" even though she was a little off balance due the barrage of Haymitch that just had wandered in her mind she was well versed in dealing with angry customers. Itchy was a particularly deep blow even though they weren't five anymore and he was almost two heads taller than her. Childhood barbs hit quite hard she had found out even if years had passed.
"Maysilee, I got eleven Cenars," he paused and she saw him loosening his jaw; saw him calm down like she did when Merrilee took to much time with their shared bathroom but she knew if she complained she'd get shouted at, "that's all I got, that's all one backbreaking shift at Hattie's got me"
He paused again and then looked directly at her, blue meeting blue, "So please, just take the money and give me the gumdrops"
She had an inkling of who the gumdrops were for and why Haymitch was so adamant about having them. He looked quite rattled, even though she had to strain her neck to look at him it was pretty clear that he was all bark and no bite.
She looked at him again, clearly and with focus this time. In his mind he'd probably think she was assessing or even analyzing him for retorts she could throw but the truth was she was genuinely curious about his state of function. His shirt was a patchwork of stitches both subtle and haphazard, maybe some were done by him in a hurry and some were done by his mum in patience.
The top button of his shirt was missing, so it gave the impression of being a open collar shirt. He should probably wear a chain, because his collarbone was visible just begging to be put on display.
Of course it was all from a standpoint of neutrality, actually it was a point of view of detached boredom. There wasn't much to do sitting on the counter of a candy shop, and Haymitch was the perfect canvas to project some of her aimless boredom.
Well no time like the present; she stood up from the counter and opened the barrier, then handed him the gumdrops. He was looking down at her with confusion. Good better confused than him guessing her intentions.
"Here, tell Lenore Dove they are on the house"
He looked surprised and confused. Lenore Dove might think of herself slick but the secrets she knew of the girl proved otherwise, she was incredibly careless so much so that her knowing that she was a sweet addict who purposely avoided her shift at the shop to buy Gumdrops wasn't even the worst secret she knew about her.
Not even close.
"What's your plan here May" he still looked confused, maybe that's why the nickname slipped out. The one he concocted as an insult back when they were kids. A weak attempt at trading barbs, weaker evermore that she kind of didn't mind him calling her that. Even back then.
"Don't call me that Hay, this is all just a favour. Tell her to cut back on the sweets though " intentionally being contradictory, poor lunk of hunk itchy couldn't comprehend sarcasm. His eyes were too blue and distracting, it took her remarkable focus not to comment on them he wouldn't be that dumb as to not ask why she was so focused on his eyes.
Now those eyes squinted at her, like he was imagining every possibility, every "sick and twisted" plan she had dreamt up. The Gumdrops were more important though, so he took the bag and put the money down with a screeching clink.
"I'll see you around, Maysilee" he enunciated every word weirdly, and he didn't stop looking at her while he left. The clear glass door betrayed his intentions, she could still see him looking back when he had already left. Looking back in confusion it seemed like.
That was when she realised. He was looking back at the price board, the one that said one Panar and ten Cenars for ten gumdrops. The one she had lied about near unintentionally. Even too herself it seemed like. Not even the only lie she told herself she realised.
It was actually her, who was checking him out.
Shit.
She had a crush on Haymitch Abernathy.