Prompt : Loves today's fic where chaff called haymitch his "brother" , could we have more fics in witch they have brother moments ?

The Things You Do For Friendship

Haymitch's hand hovered over the chessboard for a few seconds before he finally moved a pawn. Not quite his most brilliant move but it would have to do for now.

"Care to tell me why we're freezing our asses up there when we could be downstairs?" he grumbled, propping up the lapels of his grey coat.

It was bad enough that they had been dragged back to the Capitol for the 70th Victory Tour in an attempt at distracting the masses from the abysmal failure that was Annie Cresta's victory, it seemed the weather was particularly bad for the city that time of year despite the controlled climate. The wind was sharp and it was far more comfortable to spend time inside than out.

Which was why he had been puzzled when Chaff had insisted they headed to the roof for a game of chess. Hauling chairs and a table upstairs had been more hassle than it was worth in his opinion.

"Felt like talking without watching my tongue for once." his best friend grumbled, studying the board.

"Fair enough." he granted, taking a sip of his flask.

He pretended he didn't see Chaff's dark eyes tracking the movement or that he didn't notice how his gaze lingered on the finely wrought T branded on the silver. He waited for the inevitable accusations or, worse, warnings about him being a fool eager to be owned by his escort but they never came.

"What's with the chimes?" his friend asked, moving his bishop.

"Effie." He left it at that. It was self-explanatory anyway. The roof wasn't bugged. It would have been hard to hear anything over the sound of the city laying at their feet but she liked to be sure. Or maybe she liked the sound of chimes in the wind. With her it was always difficult to tell.

"Clever." Chaff admitted.

It wasn't often that Eleven's victor offered his escort a compliment, direct or indirect, and Haymitch watched him for a moment, looking for a clue as to why they were huddling in coats on the roof pretending to care about a game of chess when they could be drinking, warm and sound, either in the penthouse or on his floor. Hell, they could have been at a bar or a club trying to find a woman willing to share their beds – Chaff's bed, Haymitch usually aborted long before the chase was over, not that he let himself think about why too closely.

He had been wondering about that.

They had been in the city for a whole week and Chaff had made no pass at anyone in his presence yet. Knowing his best friend like he did, it was a matter of concern. The Capitol was usually his playfield and Chaff loved to play. With him, it was a different woman every night if he got his way.

"Fay's alright?" he asked, poking a bit at random.

He had never met Chaff's sister but he had heard so much about her and her sons he felt like he knew her.

"Right as rain." Eleven's victor shrugged, his face softening a little. "Her boys are bigger than me now. Almost men. Oldest's gonna turn eighteen soon."

He moved another pawn, his attention divided between the chessboard and his friend. Something was wrong, something had been wrong ever since he had found Chaff drinking alone in the mentor lounge the afternoon he had arrived in the city, but he couldn't quite figure out what.

"That's good, yeah?" he asked, a bit hesitant. "No more Reapings."

"Yeah." Chaff flashed him a small tense smile and took his turn without really looking at the game. He plucked the glass he had placed on the floor and stood up to walk to the low wall that boarded the roof. He took a sip and watched the city that never seemed to sleep.

There were colorful beams of light piercing the night, lit up advertising boards, twinkling signs for bars, clubs and shops, headlights…

Haymitch slouched a little on his chair and studied his friend, finally letting himself worry. "So… What's up?"

Chaff shook his head and then took another sip, leaning against the hip-high wall. "Nothing, really. Same old."

"Right." he commented, standing up to join him at the edge of the roof. He glanced down by the force of habit. The Center was the highest building in the city and the sight would have been vertiginous if he hadn't known a force field would have cushioned anyone's fall. When he had been younger – younger and far more desperate – he had entertained the thought of jumping just for the hell of it, hoping that maybe the force field would malfunction and he would crash at the bottom of the tower in a bloody pulp. "Care to elaborate?"

"You can't get it yet." Chaff sighed. "You're still young."

"Young." he repeated. That wasn't quite what he was expecting. "Think you're confusing me with Finnick, here."

"Finnick's a baby." his friend mocked, not without fondness.

Haymitch found that assessment debatable. He wasn't sure Finnick could still be called green after what he had been through, what he was going through.

"I stopped being young when I was sixteen." he said quietly because the accusation rattled. Haymitch had never been young. He never had the chance.

Eleven's victor didn't look at him. "You're thirty-five. You've got options yet."

His eyebrows shot up and he leaned against the wall, turning his back to the city to better look at his friend. "Having a mid-life crisis?"

Chaff had turned forty the month before.

Haymitch had even remembered to call. There had been cake, he had been told – courtesy of the Gamemakers. There had been cameras too but…

It was a very long time before Chaff spoke again, his glass almost gone and Haymitch was thoroughly tempted to take out his flask again but he didn't want to see the disapproving look on his best friend's face at the sight of the flourished T. He could explain he wasn't actually carrying around a flask branded with his escort's initial, that yeah she was the one who had gifted it to him but that it was a heirloom from her grandfather and that the T stood for a ridiculous Capitol first name and not… But what was the good of explaining? Explaining would have been justifying. And he didn't have to justify anything.

"Met someone." Chaff finally spat out.

Haymitch had lost himself in his own thoughts and he startled a little at the not so casual announcement. "Yeah?"

His voice sounded tentative. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. In the almost twenty years he had known him, Chaff had never ever been serious about a woman. Eleven's victor had never let himself be serious about anyone. He was the one who had taught Haymitch only heartbreak lied that way.

"Broke it off." Chaff added, finishing what was left of his whiskey in one long gulp before thrusting the glass at him without even looking. "Couldn't afford… You know."

He did know.

And because he did know, he did as his friend wanted, fished out his flask and poured some of his booze into the glass. It wasn't whiskey. It wasn't even vodka. It was from one of Ripper's bottles, something bland that burned all the way down your throat and gave you heartburn for hours.

"Serious?" he asked once Chaff had tried it and winced.

Eleven's victor took his time answering and Haymitch took a swing of his flask. There wasn't much left sloshing inside.

"Serious enough." his friend finally confessed. "Made me want things." The man's jaw clenched and he swallowed hard before taking another sip as if to cleanse his mouth of the bad feeling. "She made me chase her for a while. Don't usually bother but she… She was just… Worth it, you know?"

He tried not to think about blue eyes that sparkled as bright in anger as they did in mischief, tried not to remember the twinkling laughter that inevitably echoed when Effie was finished pretending to play hard to get…

"There are women like that." he sighed.

They were the dangerous ones.

"Fuck but I wanted it all with her…" Chaff sighed right back. "Marriage. Kids." He shook his head, turned his head to the side. "Couldn't get myself to cut it off. Went on for almost the last six months. Was about to propose when Summercket called and said we had to come back to the city. Propose. Me. Can you see it?"

Not really.

Chaff scoffed without leaving him time to answer. "If Vile-o-la hadn't called…"

"Plenty of victors have a wife…" he remarked carefully. "If you love that woman…"

"Love." Chaff repeated with obvious distaste. "Love's the ultimate trap, kid."

"Don't call me kid." Haymitch grumbled.

That was a leftover from the time directly following his victory when Chaff had taken him under his wing. He still called him that from time to time when he was particularly nostalgic or when he felt Haymitch needed guidance.

Haymitch had stopped needing guidance a long time ago.

"It ain't… It ain't impossible to make it with a family." he added. For someone like Chaff, at least. "Ain't like… Just have to play the game, Chaff."

"I don't want to play their game." Chaff scowled. "I'm tired of playing their game. What happens when I put my foot in my mouth? They kill my wife? They get my kids? That's madness. Wouldn't do that to anyone I love." Eleven's victor snorted. "Maybe you've got the right of it, in the end. You're screwing yourself by screwing her but at least you know it's impossible from the get go. No point thinking about what if. You can never marry her. You can never have babies that look like her. No point wondering."

It was his turn to look away. He took a long gulp from his flask, letting the booze burn his mouth, his throat, his chest all the way to his stomach…

He should shut up.

He knew he should shut up.

"Don't want kids." he found himself saying all the same. "Wouldn't risk it. But if you think I don't think about it from time to time, you're a fucking fool." Chaff's eyes darted to his face but Haymitch looked straight ahead, his jaw clenched. "Human nature, ain't it? We're made to reproduce." He shook his head. "I've lost too much though. Even if I could… I wouldn't. Wouldn't risk it. Wouldn't risk her either. I'm a target. Always will be. I'm the fucking example…" Another long swallow and the flask was empty. He thumbed the T instead of putting it aside at once. "You're not me, Chaff. They've got no reason to go after you if you don't give them one. You can have it if you want it. The wife. The babies. You can have it all."

That would be foolish.

But not impossible.

"They've got thirteen reasons to come after me." Chaff snorted as if it was a good joke but Haymitch didn't understand it. "And I'm too old anyway. The day a boy you held in your arms when he was born turns eighteen, you know you're too old to have one of your own."

"Doesn't mean you can't have the woman." he objected. "If you care about her so much…"

"I care about her enough that I very publicly cheated on her." Chaff cut him off. "Fay ain't speaking to me right now. They're good friends, see."

Haymitch sighed. "Don't know what to tell you."

"Nothing to say." Eleven's victor shrugged. "It's what it is." The man let out a long sigh. "Listen to me being all sentimental… Been a long time since I had a crush, that's all. Forgot how painful it can be. Better to just fuck them once and run, if you ask me."

"Probably." he granted.

But it wasn't always that easy.

Chaff studied him for a while and then smirked, more bitter than amused. "So… You thought about having babies with your escort… Cause that's another kind of problem entirely, buddy, let me tell you…"

He rolled his eyes. "Never said it was her. Did you even listen? Point is: I don't wanna have kids."

Chaff tossed him a look that clearly said he wasn't fooled.

And Haymitch couldn't actually said that in the deep of winter, sometimes, he hadn't let himself think about how life could be if Panem was a different place. He had zero interest in getting married, he didn't want children but it hadn't always been like that. He used to have traditional dreams when life was concerned and…

"Come on, brother…" Eleven's victor sighed. "Let me kick your ass at chess and then we can go to a bar and find pretty women to warm us up." His lips twitched and he gave Haymitch a knowing look. "Or I can find a pretty woman and you can bolt back between Trinket's sheets once I scored."

Haymitch pursed his lips and pushed himself off the wall. "Tell you what… Let's skip chess and we can both find a girl cause I ain't fucking Trinket."

"Yeah?" Chaff teased. "Since when? Cause last night I thought you were gonna punch that guy just cause he was glancing at her chest…"

There was the usual touch of humor in Chaff's voice and his friend didn't look miserable for the first time since the beginning of the Tour so Haymitch decided he could bear the teasing up to a point.

The things he would do for friendship…