Requested by missy-poppins91: I have a prompt for between lives to add the pile please? In CF Peeta offers a donation of his winnings right? If its not to ooc Could we have one where new victor Haymitch tries to spontaneously spread his wealth around his district? beyond the what capitol deem normal celebration(like how dare he by nessities for the seam rather then a new designer outfit the scandel!)

Helping Out
(16 years old)

His family never had enough but it was different now. There was more than enough. Too much, in fact, that Haymitch had no idea what to do with it. He had not even take into account the steady flow of stipends he would get from the Capitol every month.

"What are you gonna do with it, Mitch?"

He had been thinking about it. His first thought went to his brother. Haymitch glanced down at Lief and ruffled his hair affectionately. His time in the arena was something he would rather forget – it wasn't easy with the nightmares but he could breathe better now that he was home with Lief and Mama – but winning also meant that Lief would live in relative ease because of him. That made the guilt of having survived 47 other children slightly easier to bear.

"I'm gonna keep half of this for you and mama. You'll always have some money for food and clothes, and you'll never have to be hungry again. I'll get more from the Capitol every month, too. I think I'll give it to mama. She'll know what to do with it better than I do."

Lief's eyes lighted up. He brushed his hand against the glittering gold coins and then he looked at Haymitch thoughtfully, "and mama never has to work again, right? She can't do anymore washing, Mitch. Her back's not good."

"I know," Haymitch nodded. "You don't worry 'bout her. I've got us now, okay?"

His second thought went to the people in the district, especially those in the Seam. He grew up in the Seam so he knew just how harsh the living conditions were. Before he was reaped, two babies died of starvation and after such death, there were usually a frantic urgency for parents to put in extra hours at the mines just for an extra piece of coin to feed their children.

He could help them now. He was the only person who could.

Haymitch did just that. He was young and foolish; driven by his desire to change things now that he thought he could. He wasn't tainted by the sense of despair and hopelessness that would consume him for most of his adult life, not yet and not truly.

He set out to the Seam and gave out some coins to the little children he met along the way. They were too young to refuse – their dignity did not get in their way – but they were old enough to know that money could get them food. Haymitch would give some to their parents but it was a little more difficult dealing with the adults. He didn't think going up to them and handing them some money was going to work. It was a delicate matter and if he did that, they would refuse him. They would not allow him to treat them like charity and if he insisted, he would trample all over their sense of self-respect. People in Twelve were labourers who worked hard and earned their keep, and prided themselves in that. They wouldn't have it any other way so Haymitch had asked Mama if it would be okay for her to hire some women or her friends to clean their house, do their laundry and keep the area around Victor's Village clean. He could pay them, he said.

His mother didn't ask him anymore question but she understood. She could see his intention clear as day on his face.

"Mama? Can you do that?"

She nodded, framed his cheeks and kissed his forehead. "Good man," she whispered. "Your father will be very proud of you."

"You can buy 'em stuffs," Lief suggested from where he was sitting and fiddling with the phone on the wall. They didn't have a phone in their old house. "Just leave it outside their houses. They ain't gonna throw it away, right?"

"Be careful," Iris told him.

Haymitch laughed. "I'm just going to buy things. I'm not gonna get in trouble!"

He took Lief's suggestion.

Haymitch went to the bakery first and bought a basket full of bread. Mr. Mellark was curious, naturally, but he didn't pry because Haymitch gave him business. It was the same with the other shops.

He thought everything was working out perfectly. He was helping the merchants of district Twelve by buying goods from them and he was helping those in the Seam by giving them those goods he bought.

When night had fallen, Haymitch and Lief went to the Seam and left a loaf at each house with a small block of cheese, or a bottle of milk or anything else that could feed them.

For two nights, Haymitch delivered until half of his Capitol winnings were gone and the supplies in District Twelve had dwindled.

"I got nothin' for you, boy. You've got to wait for the next shipment," the grocer growled. "You bought nearly all I have – there's nothing for me to sell."

"When is it coming? When's the next shipment?"

The grocer gave him a long, hard look. He glanced around and when he spoke, it was in a low voice, wary of listening ears.

"You be real careful. What you doing here… It's risky business. You stop now and lay low for a few weeks."

Haymitch frowned. He had never liked it when someone tried to tell him what to do and what not to do.

"What do you mean? I didn't hear you complainin' when I was buyin' things from you. I'm just trying to help – that's all."

"I know, boy, I know," the grocer sighed. "But it's not me that's the problem, is it? The Capitol ain't gonna like it when they get wind of this. We only get supplies at the end of the month and if word gets back to them that we've run out, they're gonna be real curious. They're gonna ask you and they sure as hell ain't gonna like it if they find out that someone's been feeding the district. And they ain't stupid – they'll know it's you. They're not gonna be happy 'bout it."

"Why not?" Haymitch challenged.

"How old do you think I am?"

Haymitch was not expecting the question. It took him a while before he ventured a guess. "I don't know…. Seventy, maybe? You've always been around, kind of like Greasy Sae."

"Sae's younger… So much younger," he chuckled. "Point is, I'm old enough to have seen things, to know things. And what I know is that the Capitol's the only one that can feed us. They want to be the only one with that kind of power."

"What do you want me to do? Let them all go hungry?" Haymitch argued "We've already lost three to the Games and babies have died."

With nothing much to sell, the grocer dragged an empty crate and sat down on it. He pulled out a small metallic tin containing his tobacco and began rolling up his cigarette. He offered it to Haymitch who shook his head. Mama would skin him.

"You think you're the first person to try and do this? Nah, son, Reggie tried to after he won. You're just like he was. Wanted to help, wanted to do something."

"What did he do?" Haymitch asked with interest. He seldom heard stories about Reggie. He died when Haymitch was young so he never remembered the man.

"He left bags of coins outside his house in Victor's Village for people to take whenever they needed."

Haymitch blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

"Did it work?"

"The Capitol found out. Peacekeepers gave him a warning and we were thought a lesson. The Peacekeepers… They stopped food supplies from other districts from coming in and made working hours in the mines longer. Someone died in the mine that month. Exhaustion and starvation don't go well together."

Haymitch swallowed. He inhaled deeply and stuffed his hands in his pocket. He didn't want the people in the district to suffer.

"So you be careful. They ain't gonna go after you now that you're a victor. You're theirs so they won't touch a hair on you. They'd go for us."

"I'm not theirs. I don't belong to them," Haymitch snapped.

When he went home that afternoon, his head was reeling with the possible consequences he had not considered but Haymitch was stubborn so he tried to work out the problem.

When Aspen came over after school one afternoon, Haymitch a slid a bag filled with money across the table over to his friend.

"I ain't taking your money," Aspen frowned but there was a spark of desire in his eyes. He blinked and it was gone. "I'm not your charity."

"Don't be a snob, Aspen. That'll help put food on your family's table for a while. Besides, you've helped me a lot over the years so…"

"I helped 'cause you're my friend. I can't take that. My mother's gonna ask," Aspen stressed the point. "And you've been leaving bread outside my house."

Haymitch snorted.

"Everyone knows it's me, huh?"

"Who else could it be? People are talkin', Haymitch. They ain't all comfortable with what you're doing."

"Yeah, except they didn't tell me to stop 'cause they know their children are fed. Look, Aspen, you gotta do this now 'cause I can't. The Peacekeepers can't know it's coming from me."

"You want me to take over?"

"Not precisely. You just help where you can. I can give you the money; you can keep some for your family and figure out how to help the others. The delivery thing won't work anymore. You've got any ideas?"

"I can think of something, I guess."

Aspen had always been kind-hearted so it didn't take a lot of convincing for him to help except neither of them expected the Peacekeepers to accuse Aspen of stealing from a Victor. Aspen was nearly sent for whipping for a second time until Haymitch intervened.

"You've only came back a week and you've already gotten me in trouble," Aspen panted, rubbing his wrists where he had been bound.

"The both of you need to stop planning anything together," Hazelle chided. She was severely out of breath after running to Victor's Village to get Haymitch and running back to the whipping post. "Trouble always comes up when it's the two of you."

"Maybe you should hang around with us more. Toby would like that," Aspen winked. "What happened to the money, Haymitch? The one you gave me?"

"I told the Head he could keep it if he let you walk."

Aspen stared at him and then they both started laughing.

"You're crazy," Aspen cried. "You're goddamn crazy. He took the money?"

"He did. He also gave me a warning," Haymitch told the two of them. "He said the money's mine and I'm only to spend it on somethin' for myself."

The district learnt their lesson enough from what nearly happened to Aspen. They were afraid of the punishment and Haymitch was wary of getting his friend or anyone else in trouble. The silver lining was that, he was still allowed to employ people. It was a short term of employment because once his family was killed, Haymitch fell sideways.

I thought it was plausible Haymitch that might have tried to do something similar because in Catching Fire, when Peeta gave his winnings away, Haymitch went 'oh shit', I feel like he knows. Also, when Cinna asked if Peeta could do that, he said, "he can't". I chose to interpret it as he knew it because he tried it before and he was told he can't do that unless ofc the victors were briefed at the end of their games before they went home on things they can and cannot do with their winnings.

Reviews would be lovely especially on my birthday ;) In the next chapter, you'll meet Johanna Mason.