Prompt: Hi! Been rereading the HADS series - last one just broke my heart 😢 If you're taking prompts, would you consider a sequel to chapter 341 where maybe Hazelle or Sae finds the Polaroids as his hiding place wasn't that good for someone who cleans his house!

The Pictures

Haymitch poured himself precisely half a glass, wincing at the clicking sound the bottle made every time it hit the rim. The tremors were bad lately but between Peeta's raid on his stock and the Peacekeepers burning the Hob to the ground, he didn't have any other choice but to ration himself. He had made calculations. He had precisely six bottles left – the ones the boy hadn't found – and he could only afford one glass a day if he wanted to hold until the Reaping.

It probably was for the best. He resented the hell out of that imposed sobriety but he would need his wits about him during the Quell. And Thirteen… He had been warned alcohol was prohibited there. It would be better for him to go there already sober rather than being forced to cut off entirely cold turkey.

He glanced at the clock and swallowed back a sigh when he realized it wouldn't be long before one of the kids came and got him so they could train. For the good it would do him. If he went back to an arena, he would kick the bucket in the first ten minutes, he was ready to bet on it.

He heard the soft footsteps and he took a sip of moonshine, forcing himself to go slow, to savor it. The knocks on the kitchen doorframe were light, he turned around, eyebrows raised in question. It hadn't really been difficult to get used to Hazelle coming back into his life. They had been good friends in their youth and if it had been a little awkward at first… They had soon found their rhythm back.

He was glad he could help her by employing her and he was even gladder that his house didn't look or smell like a dumpster anymore – even if he still grumbled about the intrusion. They were friends again, he thought, and it was good to have a friend who wasn't sixteen years old.

He was comfortable with Hazelle in a way he wasn't with Aster. He didn't joke around with Katniss' mother. Aster Everdeen carried her frailness and vulnerability on her face and he had never been very good with women who couldn't handle themselves. He wasn't a knight in shining armor.

Which was why he frowned when he realized Hazelle was avoiding his gaze.

"I was cleaning the cupboard in your bedroom…" she informed him. "I wasn't trying to snoop or anything. I was just putting some clean clothes away."

His frown deepened. "So what?"

She cleared her throat, her cheek strangely flushed, and fished something out of her apron's pocket. She didn't look at him when she placed the handful of Polaroid pictures on the kitchen's table, upturned.

Not that he needed to see what was on them.

He knew.

A gift from Effie for long winter nights.

They had fooled around with a camera once. Effie was very naked on some of those and he was pretty sure there was at least one or two on which he appeared too.

"Ah." He made a face. "Yeah. Sorry. Forgot that was in there."

Hazelle licked her lips, looking at the wall instead of at him. "I would not have mentioned it but I use that cupboard a lot so perhaps you could…"

"I'll put them somewhere else." he promised, swiftly gathering the pictures. He glanced at the one on top and quickly placed them in his pocket. "Don't go poking around the nightstand's drawer from now on, yeah?"

"Perfect." she agreed with obvious relief. She relaxed a little and finally met her gaze, a little amused. "You never said you had someone."

He supposed he was lucky she hadn't recognized his escort. Effie didn't really look like Effie Trinket without her make-up though. And he figured she was the last woman Hazelle would expect him to take naughty pictures with.

"I don't." he denied by reflex and then shrugged because it didn't settle right with him. After the Quell maybe… Once the rebellion was on and they were all safe in Thirteen… He shouldn't hope, he knew that. But a part of him… A part of him was yearning to see what they could be if they were allowed to be more than just lovers. "It's complicated."

"I see." she said.

He didn't think she did.

He didn't understand it himself.

But maybe he would one day soon.