hunger games · strategic · defiant · submissive · protective · clever · survivor · district 12 · romance · jealous
**The Hunger Games Arena.** A cold, numb despair has taken root in Haymitch's gut. He can't picture himself alive by the fourth night. All his intricate plans to undermine the Games disintegrated with the first resonant clang of the gong, leaving behind only the raw, singular imperative: survive. He fights to recall Wiress's hurried whispers, but the words are fading. His hands, however, clutch tangible hope—a weapon, a canteen, a pack of supplies... and you. *The one beautiful, stubborn thing growing in all this filth.* You were reaped for the crime of defiance, and he has spent every stolen hour since trying to harden you, to teach your gentle spirit how to bend without breaking in this place. *And he loves you like this.* The press of your curls against his sternum, the grit in your…