Haymitch Abernathy (Hunger Games) (drunkstrategy) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-17 15:51:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, haymitch abernathy, peeta mellark |
Who: Peeta and Haymitch
When: Mid March
Where: Peeta’s Bakery
What: A first meeting
Rating/Warnings: Low/Hunger Games warnings
Status: Complete
Haymitch had seen Peeta’s recent post on the net and tried not to think about it too much but eventually the guilt had eaten away at him and he’d decided to seek the boy out. He knew, thanks to Portia, where he worked and had headed there late morning once the rush would have died down and before lunch got busy again.
Pushing open the door he waited in line until it was his turn, hoping he wouldn’t freak the boy out too much.
One of Peeta’s brothers was actually manning the register by the time Haymitch entered the bakery. Peeta was in the back kitchen finishing up a cake that was going to be picked up in a few hours. He put the last finishing touches on it before he took a hold of it and moved to bring it to the lobby of the bakery and set it on a counter so it would be easier to hand off to the customer.
It wasn’t until the cake was on the counter and he turned around to check on the line that he noticed Haymitch and he was oh so thankful that he had already put the cake down. His face instantly paled as he stared at the man he had only seen in his dreams. Was this seriously happening? Haymitch was a real person and living in Orange County and what the hell was he doing here. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” was the only thing he muttered as he stared at his mentor.
Haymitch noticed Peeta as soon as he came out and kept out of sight until the cake was put down, it wasn’t worth the chance he’d drop it. Which, judging by the sound of it, was a likelihood, “Uh hey kiddo, maybe I should have called first huh?” Haymitch said meeting Peeta’s eyes.
Oh there was a definite bubbling of emotion going on inside of him and Peeta couldn’t believe the audacity of Haymitch to just show up unexpected and act like they were friends. Oh wait, actually he could believe that. The main emotion right now was anger as he stared at the man, “You know who I am. That means you’re on the network. How long have you been on the network?” Oh this wasn’t going to end well. Either the man barely ever checked the network or Haymitch was purposefully avoiding all posts that Peeta made. And how did he figure out where he worked?
It wasn't exactly like Haymitch expected much at all, this was just him. How he acted a lot of the time was casual and light. He'd expected anger but this was rather more intense. "A while. Didn't realise it was you until your latest post though" he said, because honestly he didn't check it religiously or anything.
“Really? Because I’ve been mentioning you by name and talked about you to fellow winners and you just happened not to notice until my latest post?” Peeta was working incredibly hard not to roll his eyes at Haymitch and storm off right now. He didn’t need this man in his life because he had made it through dreaming the first Hunger Games just fine. Okay...maybe not really fine, but he had survived, “So, why are you coming to see me now?”
"Portia mentioned you" he admitted, looking around at the audience they were gaining. He'd much rather discuss this privately but it seemed Peers wasn't having that and really it was his decision. "You think this is easy for any of us? You think speaking to you is easy for me? Because its not. I carry guilt with me everyday for something that hasn't even really happened. It's hard to even think of you without feeling like I should have done something more to help you"
His brother was starting to move closer to them and Peeta held up his hand, "Army thing. We will take this outside." He gave Haymitch a pointed look as he moved out from behind the counter and over to Haymitch. He gave him a look and made his way outside, "You could have said something because I thought I was going to die in these dreams. I should have. And I have probably seen worse things than you in my life and this is only adding to those images. I needed someone to talk to that was actually involved in my games and you ignored me! You are about as bad as your dream self."
“I haven’t ignored you Peeta” Haymitch told him, “How the hell did I know how you’d react? When Portia told Katniss the girl flipped out and refused to speak to her for a long time. She thought Portia was a crazy liar. You’ve been talking to the other winners so you must have known I was around so don’t go putting all this shit on me alone”
“Well, you didn’t have to tell me what I was going to dream, but the minute you knew that I was dreaming you should have come out and told me you exist. And none of them have told me that you were here. If you want me to go yell at them then sure, I’ll go do that, but you should have said something to me before I got this far,” Peeta was just annoyed about everything now. The Hunger Games were absolutely terrible to live through and he had been in combat. It would have been nice to talk to Haymitch about these things when they happened, but he had been left alone with his thoughts.
“I didn’t know how far along you were until recently. I’m not sat on that bloody thing all day looking for people talking about their bloody dreams” Haymitch said, lifting his hand to rub at his head. “Look it is what it is. I’m here now alright? And if that’s not good enough then I’m sorry but that’s all I have” It had been hard enough dealing with his own dreams and Katniss’ and now he’d get Peeta’s to lump on top of them. It’d be a miracle if he managed to keep off the drink at this rate.
“I don’t expect you to be, but come on, it’s been months. You should have seen a post from me and you could have said something to whatever other Victor you met,” Peeta knew this was just going to go around in circles. He was annoyed at Haymitch for not being around before now, but Peeta had to admit he was slightly thankful that he was around now. He could ask him what in the hell was going on now, “Fine, you’re here now. So what were you intending to do now that you’ve found me.”
“You post that much on the net that I can’t miss it huh? And I’ve spoken to Johanna and Katniss and neither of them mentioned you were here” Haymitch said, irritated now because he hadn’t seen anything before the most recent thing and nobody had told him Peeta was around. He shrugged, “Figured I’d better let you know I was around if you needed anything. I don’t have all the answers but I’ve had the dreams and can be around if you want me to be” he said simply.
"I post often enou-- Katniss is here?" Peeta really wasn't sure what emotions passed over his face in that moment. He had no idea she was around because, once again, no one had told him and Katniss hadn't tried to contact him either. Did he even want to speak to her? That was a very good question because he would probably be just as annoyed with her as he was with Haymitch. Dream emotions towards her didn't translate into real life, "Well, now I know you are here. At this point and time I don't even know if I have any questions for you. There is too much going on in my head that I need to sort out."
Haymitch nodded, “She is. Someone else for you to have a go at” he said, because at the end of the day Haymitch had come to see him as soon as he felt he could once he’d discovered Peeta was here. And he wasn’t apologising for not trawling the net for possible posts by more poor sods who were having Hunger Games dreams. “Well you know I’m here, so if you want me just contact me” he said holding out a business card.
Peeta wasn’t even sure if he wanted an apology from Haymitch. He was doing fine without him, but it eased him slightly that Haymitch was around to speak to if he needed to. He was angry at the world for the hand he was dealt and Haymitch got the brunt of it. Katniss was a whole other issue to deal with and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to figure that one out right now. He took the card that was offered to him and glanced at it, “You would work in PR. And I’d offer you my card, but you already know where I work.”
He got the frustration of the dreams, sure they were crap and they made you feel awful but at the end of the day they were here. In the real world. They hadn’t lived through the hunger games, neither of them had actually killed anybody like that and they needed to remember that. “Ironic considering in the dreams how little patience I have for that kind of thing” he shrugged, “Yeah I know where you are” he nodded.
Peeta had killed people in this world. The horror of war was always fresh in his mind. He had thought he was getting a handle on his PTSD, but now he had this. Haymitch had absolutely no idea what Peeta had been through and hadn't picked up on his mention of the Army earlier. But Peeta didn't really go around offering that up until someone asked or he felt comfortable enough to mention it, "No one had patience for the Hunger Games bullshit. And I may not seem it right now, but I am glad you finally came around. I gotta get back in there and do damage control."
The Hunger Games and the army were wildly different but that would be a conversation for later, if Peeta chose to speak to Haymitch again and open up to him. Haymitch wasn’t going to push. “Okay. See you around kiddo” he nodded before letting Peeta go back inside and heading towards his car. Well that could have gone better, he thought with a sigh.