thelastbecket | The Hunger Games (Aftermath of War Edition)

The war ends and Raleigh's still alive. It's a surprise to him. He didn't have any plans for after because he hadn't planned on there being one for him. He was sure something in the war would kill him, but he had things to do like protecting Chuck and Mako without them noticing, so he fought against those things, coming out on top, and then...then it was over and he wasn't dead so he had to keep living.

He thought about being done with it while they were still sorting things out in the Capital's ruins. He still had a gun and he was so tired of everything. There wasn't a need for him anymore. His body was rendered nearly useless by scars and nerve damage. His limbs didn't do what he wanted them too a third of the time and his mind didn't cooperate most of the time. He was obsolete.

But then Mako showed up and asked him to stand with her and Stacker, just to be seen, not to say anything. Apparently, he had uses he hand't thought of. Mako keeps asking things of him, so he keeps delivering. Then they're settling down. He follows Mako to a part of the country he'd never seen before. There's forest and ocean, a beautiful combination that doesn't remind him of any games, just home and a new start. They fix the remnants of a town not far into the forest from the beach.

Raleigh elects to turn what looks like an old fishing station on a jut of the beach into his home. It's a long walk from the town, but not an unmanageable one for any of them. It's a much shorter distance to the cabin Chuck's built for himself in the forest. It's away from the town, but Mako says he travels into it often and works there.

Raleigh wants to see him, but he can't bring himself to leave the beach and the edge of the trees near his new home. He swims a lot and wonders what would happen if he just stopped treading water one day. He doesn't though, because Mako brings him food in exchange for the nets he makes and the fish he catches, the crustaceans he hauls out of the water. He feels like she'd be disappointed in him if he was gone one day.

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From:

suicidemission

He does it methodically, lining up the wood, swinging the axe, letting the wood fall before grabbing another chunk. It's really therapeutic for him - Chuck likes doing this, likes the heft of something in his hands, enjoys the muscle it requires to actually crack the wood.

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh relaxes completely. He's always trusted Chuck, even when he knew damn well that Chuck would have killed him if he needed to, even when he realized Chuck nearly had killed him on the beach. As much as the Capital had poisoned him, made him think he was supposed to attack Mako, Herc, and the rest of them, made him think they were the enemy, when it came down to it Chuck was the one his arms wouldn't move to harm. So, Chuck with an ax doesn't bother him.

He just watches the flex and curve of Chuck's muscles as he moves. It's relaxing, and reassuring to know Chuck isn't letting himself go. Raleigh doesn't have to be so wary around Chuck, because he isn't afraid of him, and with the Capital gone, he knows there isn't much that can harm Chuck.

From:

suicidemission

It takes him a while. The sun is high in the sky when he begins and by the time he's finished it's sunk pretty low, throwing gold and red hues across the forest and its occupents. Chuck's soaked with sweat despite the settling chill. and he keeps working, piles it all up in a neat little heap before grabbing at a few logs and inclining his head.

"Coming in?"

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh wonders if he could start trading Chuck some fish or crustaceans for wood. It would save Mako from walking so far with such a heavy load, and give him more excuses to see Chuck regularly.

"Yeah. What do you normally do for meat? I know you eat oysters."

He follows Chuck into the house.

From:

suicidemission

He shoulders a few blocks, and heads inside. And he'd do that, if Raleigh suggested it.

"Deer, rabbit. Squirrel, if the pickings are low, but I don't much like doing that. Not enough meat for the effort."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh nods in silent understanding about the squirrel even though he doesn't actually hunt anymore, and won't ever again if he can help it.

"You want to set up a trade? Seafood for firewood?"

From:

suicidemission

He ponders this as he settles the wood into his fireplace, and nods.

"Yeah, mate. That'd work for me."

From:

thelastbecket

"Great. I don't like making Mako haul it out to me, and well, you saw what going into the forest can do to my head some days. Wouldn't be good if I had an ax and ran across one of the hunters from town. They know to stay away from my part of the beach, but otherwise..."

Raleigh steps back as Chuck settles the wood into the fireplace. Fire wasn't something he had a particular problem with, but he still didn't think it was the best idea for him to be on top of Chuck as he started one.

From:

suicidemission

He's glad for the space, really. He doesn't mind Raleigh encroaching, not really, but standing on his head while he lights a fire isn't the best plan.

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster," he comments, watchign the kindling ignite, taking the wood with it.

"Can't have that."

From:

thelastbecket

"Yeah, I don't want to kill any more people. Especially not on accident." He might do it on purpose if someone ever put Chuck or Mako in danger again, but he didn't want to be in that position and he didn't want to hurt anyone that didn't deserve it ever again. He's surprised, though, by how easy it is to talk about it out loud with Chuck.

From:

suicidemission

Chuck's a little surprised by that too, because -- wow.

But the fire is lit and he leans back and goes to flop on his couch, patting the cushion by him so Raleigh will sit.

"You'll be alright."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh sits next to Chuck, limbs extended and relaxed. He's maybe sitting a little closer than he really should.

"Yeah, I think I will most of the time, too. It's just a bit hazardous for other people. You're fine, I trust you." He has trusted Chuck for a long time. "Mako's okay. Some days aren't as good as others, though."

From:

suicidemission

"Yeah. I hear that."

Chuck has bad days, too. He's usually alone, though -- which is a good thing. Maybe they're all too messed up for anything normal.

Still, Chuck's casually leaning back, slinging his arm across the back of the couch and watching the fire flicker to life.

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh leans sideways resting his head on the back of the couch while facing Chuck, watching him instead of the flames. There's nothing expectant about his watch, he's just observing, marking the changes from the frightened thirteen year old and the asshole fifteen year old into this man that he not only wants to protect, but actually wants to spend a great deal of time in the company of.

From:

suicidemission

Raleigh is achingly gorgeous in the firelight and Chuck's struck with the sudden urge to lean forward and kiss him. Instead, Chuck's lips quirk up in a half smile as he just looks back at him, hazel eyes half-lidded.

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh watches Chuck turn and look at him and something settles into place inside his chest. Chuck's cheek dimples and without even thinking about it Raleigh reaches out, brushing his thumb along the line.

"You have the biggest, nicest dimples when you smile."

From:

suicidemission

Chuck laughs, the sound low in his chest. He's pretty sure he's never been complimented on his dimples before, and in reaction he reaches up and covers Raleigh's hand with his own, before turning his face to kiss the inside of Raleigh's palm.

"Thanks, Raleigh."

From:

thelastbecket

An expression of surprise flickers over Raleigh's face when Chuck kisses his palm, and then he's beaming, smiling wider and longer than he has the entire time they've been in each other's company. Raleigh had been so afraid of getting too close to Chuck, of having old memories stirred up even if he wants to try and have a true friendship or any other kind of relationship.

The kiss, though, that was an act of physical intimacy no one had tried anything like it with or to him since he had been trading himself for favors and secrets in the Capital. There is no comparison, none whatsoever, though his mind can't help but draw parallels. What he did in the city made his skin crawl and his mind shut down.

The warm press of Chuck's lips to his skin just made him want it to happen again, and not just to his palm either. He opened his mouth to ask Chuck if he would do it again, but just as he was about to he remembered that he'd done some of the things in the Capital to protect Chuck. He wondered if the was Chuck's payback, if he was taking pity on Raleigh and his addled brain now that the war was over and he was mostly alone. That was the thought that sickened him and wiped the smile off his face.

He leans forward a little, in a movement that's too sharp and jerky. "Why did you invite me and say you're going to keep coming to see me?"

From:

suicidemission

At first, Chuck's more sure of his actions because Raleigh smiles wide and open and it's the mosy goddamn beautiful thing he's seen in his life, period. Maybe before things had been too fucked up and he'd been too young to see Raleigh as anything other than a pain in his ass, than someone that slept his way around the Capital, and then someone to be viewed as a potential threat.

Someone he'd almost run through with a spear after he'd saved Chuck's life.

Now, things...things are different. He's older, toughened and hardened by experiences but also wizened, and he's more inclined to let the occasional feeling slip through than he wouldn't been before.

But then Raleigh's expression changes and the smile is gone and he looks like he's gonna be sick and Chuck pulls back, a little alarmed.

"Because I wanted to spend time with you," he says cautiously, brow furrowed. "I don't just -- fuckin' ask people into my goddamn house for shits 'n giggles."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh leans forward when Chuck pulls back, keeping the same too close distance between them as he stares Chuck down. There's nothing dangerous about it, it's not like when he was brain washed by the Capital or surviving in the arena, it's more like how he actually could have been when trying to find something out if he'd never gone through any of the shit that he had. He just needs to know the answers to his questions.

"I know you don't. I know it's important, but I don't understand why you want to--I'm...worse off than a lot of people." Almost everyone, in fact, from what he'd picked up between Mako and radio reports. "My brain is still scrambled, I can't even walk through the trees without getting confused. Why would you want to--?"

The thing is, though, he brain doesn't feel scrambled for once. He feels like himself sitting on a couch with Chuck across from a fire he watched him build.

From:

suicidemission

Raleigh doesn't seem unhinged in the moment so Chuck doesn't get up and put more space like he'd originalyl contemplated. Instead, he relaxes a little and just sort of looks at him and considers the things that Raleigh is saying to him.

"Dunno," he says, lifting his shoulders in to a shrug and glancing at the now roaring fire. "There's not always answers to every question, is there? If there was, I'd be a whole lot smarter, yeah?" He grins crookedly at Raleigh, and leans forward a little.

"Stay here tonight, yeah?"

From:

thelastbecket

He didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't the response Chuck gave him, and it definitely wasn't an invitation to stay for the night. Either way, it calms the worry that had suddenly clenched up Raleigh's insides and the tension goes out of him, until he's leaning limply and crookedly on the couch again. He doesn't exactly know what to say to the invitation. It seems like a good idea, though, so Raleigh doesn't have to try making it home in the dark.

"I-Yeah. That's a good idea." He smiles back at Chuck. "And I think you're very smart already."

From:

suicidemission

"I do too," he says, stretching his arms behind his head. "Could be better."

Could always be better. Hadn't that always been his motto?

Be the best. Never settle for second. Win, every time you can and if you can't, do it anyway.

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh shrugs and relaxes entirely back into the couch, arm propped on the back of it with his head on his hand.

"Everyone could always be better at something, but...they don't have to be. We don't have to force ourselves to do anything now. Not for anyone else, unless we want to."

The funny thing is, the stuff he does for Mako, the nets and the fishing, the hooks and whatever else, it's because he'd be doing it anyway to keep himself busy, but the shells, the seafood trading, he wants those things for himself and for Chuck, too.