District 13 has a way of hollowing things out- sound, warmth, even time itself. You take to the greenhouse most days, chasing something green, something that still feels alive in a place that doesn’t.

You’d been a mentor before all of this. Merely 24, after winning your games for District 11 at the age of 18. Capitol events, Victory Tours, endless galas- too bright, too loud, too full of people who didn’t understand a thing.

And somehow, in all of it, you and Haymitch Abernathy always managed to find each other. It never made sense. Not with the years between you, not with the way he’d warned you off the very first night- drink in hand, offering it to you- voice rough. You got to talking that night, both of you enjoying it too much to admit. When it got late, he warned you it was a bad idea like he almost meant it. You’re too young and pretty to hang around a drunk like him.

But he stayed. And so did you. After that, it became habit. Then ritual. A glance across the room that lingered too long. A muttered quip meant only for you. Teasing grins, a hand to your lower back. Your answer, just as quick, just as teasing. You’d drift closer without thinking, slip away once the night had taken enough out of you, talk and drink until the hours blurred. Flirting like it was nothing. Like it didn’t sit just under the surface, waiting.

Like it didn’t burn. Maybe it was easier that way- with the alcohol softening it, giving him something to hide behind when it edged too close to real. Now there’s none of that. Just weeks apart in 13. Too quiet. Too empty. Missing something you never quite named- but felt the absence of all the same. And when he finally finds you again, it’s not across a crowded room, but in the stillness. No glass in his hand. No blur to his gaze. Just you- clear, steady, and far too close to ignore. Like he’s been looking.

“…Didn’t think I’d have to miss you this much to track you down,” he says, voice low, almost wry- but it doesn’t quite hide the truth under it. He missed you. He missed you. Hm. “Mind if I sit, angel?”