"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with." - Mark Twain

The people weren't happy about the military having any sort of large explosives after the tragedy they had witnessed during the rebellion. In fact, a lot of people weren't happy about the military's existence, and Johanna's job consisted of trying to placate those people and assure them that a functioning government needed a military. A sentiment she wasn't sure she shared herself.

Recently, the call for Panem to unarm had been particularly loud. One man was leading the movement. Some Douglas or something guy. Johanna only bothered to remember the name when not doing so could result in her being fired. He'd built up quite a loud crowd, and now Johanna had been given an assignment to give all the bombs in Panem's arsenal a better image.

As soon as Johanna's job had become pushing the message "bombs equal good things" she'd known what, or who, that would entail. She'd avoided Hawthorne for roughly two months now, and it would be for nothing thanks to this assignment. They were supposed to work together since Johanna knew nothing of these weapons, and Gale knew everything about every bomb that Panem had. At least it seemed that way to Johanna. He seemed to have designed every single one or at least have been part of the team who did, but Johanna couldn't say that with certainty. Maybe she should check that as part of her research.

Using the "these were designed by the Mockingjay's best friend" card couldn't hurt. Sure Katniss had technically started an entire war, but for some reason, all these anti-war people still saw the Mockingjay as a symbol of peace. Johanna thought they were all nuts even if she could empathize with them on some points.

Johanna paused outside the door that led to Gale's workplace. Only authorized personnel were allowed in here, and Johanna had only become authorized earlier that day. She still couldn't actually get to any of the weapons, only the areas where some plans and designs were laying about. Those were almost as dangerous in the wrong hands.

There were private offices off of the large, open work areas that people filled, and Johanna wondered briefly if Gale was distinguished enough to get one of those. She hadn't been told to go to an office, only this particular area, and she was starting to worry that she'd have to wander around looking for Gale when she spotted him at a large table across the room.

There was no one else in the area immediately around him. Gale was hunched over a large sheet of paper with some sort of computer tablet also at his side. He kept glancing between the two as Johanna approached, occasionally clicking something on the tablet or scribbling something down on the paper.

Once she was standing over him, Johanna cleared her throat. Gale didn't look surprised that someone was standing over him, but Johanna supposed it was normal in a communal workplace such as this.

"I knew it would be you they'd send," Gale commented, turning back to the tablet.

"They didn't give you my name? Because I was told specifically to find Gale Hawthorne."

Gale shook his head. "All they said was that I'd be working with someone from PR and PR would send them down today."

"Yet you knew it would be me."

Gale shrugged. "I had a feeling that day after you sat down next to me that we were never going to actually escape each other. You've been avoiding me for a couple of months, so we had to see each other again eventually."

From the way he talked, Johanna almost thought Gale had specifically asked for her in order to make her miserable. Her presence didn't seem to have the same effect on him that he had on her.

"I guess," Johanna allowed. "The universe seems to hate me like that."

"Don't tell me you're one of those fate people."

Johanna smirked. "Do I seem like one of those 'fate people'?"

"No, that's exactly why it would be disappointing if you were."

He was still looking between the tablet and the paper covered in drawings which made no sense to Johanna, but he seemed far less absorbed in it than he had been before Johanna approached.

"Do I think there's a higher power up there watching over our lives? No. Do I think the entire universe is designed to screw everyone over because the world is a cruel, cruel place? Yes."

"That I could agree with." Gale pushed his tablet aside, finally giving Johanna his full attention. "So, all I know is that I'm supposed to give you the information you need to make our weapons look good, and you're doing the rest."

Johanna sighed. "Unfortunately."

"What do you need to know then?"

Johanna frowned as she thought about it. "I have no idea where to start. I don't know the first thing about explosives. I can hardly even use a gun. Give me sharp things that I can stab people with, I'm good to go, but I don't know what to ask about bombs."

It was hard for Johanna to admit openly that she was inferior to Hawthorne on a subject, but he didn't seem determined to rub it in her face, even if he didn't bother to conceal his slight smirk.

"Okay then," he said. "How about we start with a brief overview of some of the different bombs we have? Then you'll have some idea of what we're talking about."

"Sounds like as good of an idea as any."

Johanna listened intently as Gale held the tablet in front of her and showed her different prototypes of bombs housed in this compound. It was clear as Gale talked that he was proud of these. Johanna thought maybe she could work that into her report somehow. If Gale was the one talking, it would be hard to see how bombs could be inherently bad.

For four days in a row, Johanna came back to see Gale at the same time every day. She took pages and pages of notes on both the weapons and how she could give them some positive PR. To Johanna's surprise, the time spent with Gale became much easier than she could have imagined. The more time she spent with Gale, the less she saw Katniss whenever she looked at him. They really looked nothing alike, and the similar mannerisms she thought she had sensed before seemed to give way to entirely new ones unique to Gale.

It helped that she'd now talked to Gale more in the past week than she had anyone else since arriving in District 2. Other than Annie all the way in District 4, Johanna didn't have anyone to call a friend at the moment, so of course any sort of prolonged contact would result in Johanna getting far too attached.

To be fair, others wouldn't consider it too attached. Forming friendships was normal to most. For Johanna, friends were something you lost, and she didn't let herself find them that often, yet the more time she spent with Gale, the more she realized that having someone to talk to could be nice. Now seemed like a safer time for friendship than ever before.

By the end of the week, Johanna was starting to formulate a plan for the report back to her superiors about the weapons. She had a plan that she would present, and hopefully it would be enough. All she needed to do was put it together coherently for others.

"I think that's everything I need," Johanna concluded as she began gathering up her things that lay scattered across the table. "I'll let you know if there's any more information we need later, but for right now, I'm good."

Gale nodded, not saying anything as he watched her stand up. Johanna made it ten steps across the room before Gale's voice stopped her.

"Johanna, wait."

Johanna paused, hesitating for a moment before turning around to look at Gale again. He frowned at her, not sure why he had stopped her. Johanna could see how difficult this was for him from the way his forehead creased and mouth twitched.

Gale finally continued. "I don't have many friends here, and I'm willing to bet you're in a similar position. And as much as I absolutely hate admitting this, you're not that bad, Mason, so I just wanted to let you know that, if you're interested in becoming friends, then, uh yeah, I'm here."

He'd turned a light pink by now. A color Johanna remembered from the first time they'd met and she'd managed to embarrass him. Johanna smirked in amusement. Gale Hawthorne didn't let himself get flustered often, but he didn't know how to handle this. Johanna pretended to debate her answer before speaking.

"I suppose I could put up with you sometimes. Not too often though."

"Of course not."

Johanna laughed, a rare sound, and raised her hand up to wave. "Bye, Hawthorne."

"Bye, Johanna."

It was the closest thing to contentedness Johanna could remember feeling in years.