Warning: Already in the first chapter alone there is mention of prostitution and someone having acid thrown on their face. Later on in the story there will be extreme cases of self-harm, self-deprication, depression, murder (duh), explicit descriptions of violent sex acts, rape and a suicide attempt. Please, if you find these subjects (and others that may occur) to be too heavy or pressing, click out of this story. Thank you.
Disclaimer: Suzanne Collins' characters belong to her, as does most of the verse. I simply play with them for not only my entertainment but the readers. The only thing I own are the original characters that I create for this story.
AN: This story dedicated to Woodspurge, who fueled me to go forth with this story idea. Hopefully, they'll continue to inspire me to finish this story. The verse taken from chapter 17 of The Sound of Liquor and Tears - to get a feel of what's happening, you may go read it if you wish.
AN: Early chapter because it's short and I want to work on TSOWAT tomorrow plus I'm going to my uncles house to hang out and go swimming tomorrow. So, you get a Thursday chapter instead of a Friday chapter. Next week it'll go back to Friday. This is basically just a filler chapter anyways - something to carry us into next chapter.
Omnishambles, chapter III
Katniss wakes up alone in Haymitch's bed, with nothing but a note to testify that he was even in bed last night. For a brief moment, she thinks she's back in District 12, and he'll be downstairs reading whatever new novel that Effie's shipped him while Peeta makes them all breakfast. But then she remembers Tiberius and Barnum and her relatively okay morning is destroyed. And it's not even ten o'clock yet.
Reaching over, Katniss picks up the note that she had spotted upon waking up.
Dear Katniss,
Out with Fulvia Cardew for a breakfast date. If you don't wake up in time, Peeta will brief the tributes on the training. I'll be back at noon, and then maybe we can go get some lunch with the newlyweds. That is, if you aren't busy.
- H
Katniss reads the note twice over, scraping her brain to remember who the 'newlyweds' are. It takes her a few moments to remember that Cinna recently married Flavius, from his prep team. It'll be nice to see Cinna, but that doesn't make her any less exhausted. Sighing, she buries her face in Haymitch's pillow, inhaling the whiskey mixed with expensive cologne. It gives her a few moments of grounding before she forces herself out of bed and out into the hallway.
Katniss tiptoes down the corridor, careful not to draw any attention to herself - although she doesn't hear any sound in the living area or the kitchen. She's almost home free when-
"Oof!" Katniss cries, before falling onto the floor of the hallway. Luckily the floor is carpeted or else that would have been an unaffordable concussion. Looking up, she finds Peeta, staring at her with wide blue eyes the size of saucers, an apologetic smile on his face. She doesn't miss the deep red of his cheeks. Probably not the best time to be wearing nothing but her mentors old shirt, but oh well.
"What're you doing here?" Katniss asks, taking the hand he had extended to help her up.
"I live here for the next couple of weeks, remember? What're you doing here... naked?" Peeta asks. Again, Katniss curses her addiction to clothes that are too big for her and nudity.
"I overslept. I was just heading back to my room to get dressed," Katniss responds. Peeta nods and leaves nothing but an awkward silence between them. They don't really speak often, only around Haymitch and sometimes when he's with Prim.
It wasn't always like this between them, but Katniss and Peeta have a bit of a history together. When Katniss' father died, he saved her life by feeding her and her family until she could get on her feet and start hunting. And their friendship didn't end after that - they had become too close and dependent on each other for that to just end. Katniss thought that if it weren't Gale, she was going to one day marry Peeta. She truly believed they had a future together. But when she went in to kiss him one day when she was fifteen, he backed away and confessed that he had been crushing on someone else. Delly Cartwright. Of course, Katniss was heartbroken, and she refused to speak to him for nearly a month. And when they tried to repair the friendship, there was something about it that was just too damaged. They hadn't even talked to each other until the day of the Reaping.
Not to mention that Katniss still knew that in the back of his mind, Peeta thought that she had let Delly die on purpose. She had been her sponsor after all and she had hardly the girl sent any gifts. But they don't talk about that.
"Well, I have to go, Peeta," Katniss says, wishing that Haymitch's shirt had pockets so that her hands were occupied. Instead, she chooses to rub at her wrists. "I'll be around though, for dinner."
"That's great. Okay. Good day." And with that, the blue-eyed boy is gone from sight. He leaves so quickly he almost blurs. Katniss stares at the spot where he had been standing before taking a deep breath and slipping into her bedroom.
~.o.~
Katniss is flipping through one of Haymitch's latest interviews when the country bumpkin sex god of Panem walks in the door. Looking at the clock, she realizes that it's around eleven o'clock - near to noon. He's tailed by a very peppy Cinna Blue and his husband, Flavius. Katniss' eyes light up at the sight of the men and she leaps over the couch to throw herself into Cinna's arms, hanging onto him like a lifeline.
Although Cinna is the one that dresses her up for her 'nightly activities' and she sees him almost every other night, it really is never time to talk about their personal lives or get together for a recreational visit. It seems too blithe of them to be making petty talk about wedding decorations while she was being shipped off to be - generally - molested. But it's always beneficial to see him outside the confines of her work, and she takes advantage of the visit.
"Cinna, it's so good to see you!" Katniss cries, before burying her face into the crook of his neck. Cinna wraps his arms around her back and pulls her closer against his chest, inhaling the scent of her soap and shampoo. Cinna had missed Katniss just as much as she had missed him. More importantly, he had missed seeing her happy.
"If I wasn't so confident in his sexuality, I'd think I was getting replaced," Flavius jokes to Haymitch in the background, staring at the duo with nothing short of fondness. The jab is empty - in the two years that Katniss and Cinna had known each other, they'd become something like an inseparable brother and sister. It'd be wrong and shallow for Flavius to be insecure of their relationship.
Haymitch grins at the prep, brushing his hair from his eyes and nodding. "Yeah. Sweetheart's getting soft on me. Get a room you two!" he calls jokingly, pouring himself a drink.
Suddenly remembering the other two in the room, Katniss slowly - and reluctantly - releases Cinna. They step away from each other, Cinna holding Katniss at arms length.
"God, you look beautiful when they're not decorating with all that goop. And you're still growing your hair too? You look like a goddess," he breathes. "I've missed you, Katniss. I truly have."
"I've been right here," she says teasingly. Cinna shakes his head, a sad look in his green eyes.
"No. I've missed you." Her smile falters for a moment, and she's about to say something soft or sad when Haymitch clears his throat, drawing their attention to the other half of their group.
"I hate to break up a moment, really, but I have another appointment at one - if we want to get lunch, we should hurry."
