Living Lies ✜ Hunger Games x Reader

Training Center

After the chariot pulls to a stop, you and Peeta step down carefully, the last of your flames extinguishing. Haymitch and Effie are there to greet you, and while they both look pleased, Effie's enthusiasm is a little more obvious. Her broad grin and hand clapping is perhaps a bit too zealous, but you smile at her gratefully nonetheless. "You two were wonderful—they loved you!" she says.

Peeta, naturally, brushes it off. "It was nothing we did," he tells her, "we were just following yours and our stylists' advice."

Your eyes narrow. "I think we can take some credit."

"Exactly—that's the attitude," Haymitch says, pointing at you, "And now we wait." He looks wrong and lost without a glass in his hand.

"Wait for what?" you ask.

"Sponsors, of course. You're bound to get some attention."

After that, you fall silent, following Haymitch and Effie into the elevator to go to your apartment. Effie already explained that, since you and Peeta are from District 12, you will be staying on the top floor. The ride up is a long one, made more enjoyable by the quiet of your companions and the view of a darkening sky and a Capitol just lighting up for the night.

The luxury follows you from the sky top view to your living quarters. It is a near copy of the train in all its poshness. Strangely, it leaves you missing the simplicity of home, the dirt of the Hob, hunting with Gale and bartering with Katniss.Flashing a glance to Peeta, you can tell he is thinking the same thing, even if his family has it better off than yours.

Effie leads you to your room, where you change into a sleeveless sweater and black pants. Sitting on the plush bed, you study the room, your eyes settling on a small black remote on your night stand. You pick it up, turn it over, and press the first button. Immediately, a scene from the streets of the Capitol appears on the wall; you click the button again, having seen enough of the Capitol that day to last you for a lifetime.

The scene changes with push of a button, and you only stop searching when you find one that reminds you of home.

It's a forest, much like the one back in District 12 that is as much a home to you as the building where you sleep. If you close your eyes, you can almost transport yourself back home, with the birds whistling, and your friends right by your side. You knew you would miss Katniss and Prim just as you did your parents—they were practically your sisters—but you were not prepared for how much you miss Gale.

All these years of purposefully distancing yourself, shoving down any feelings that dared to rise, were in vain; victim to a life and death situation that demanded Gale know that you did, in fact, care for him a bit more than you were willing to admit.

Quickly, you shake your head as if to clear your mind. Crushes go away—the Games and the arena and the tributes out for your blood do not. You press the button again and again, until the wall is once more just a wall, and not a reminder of a place and time you can't go back to. The remote goes back on the night stand, not to be touched.

There is a knock at your door, and you move to answer it. It's Effie, ready to escort you to dinner.

She leads you down the hallway into a room with a table brimming with food, even though the idea of eating so much is enough to make you sick. Still, you take your seat at the table and hesitantly portion out some food onto your plate, avoiding that which looks too decadent.

Haymitch fixes a hard stare on you and Peeta. "Alright. In the training center, there's going to be the Career pack," he says, "stay away from them."