the 61st hunger games • chanbaek

pt. 1

"i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorry." baekhyun whispered under his breath as he grabbed the struggling rabbit that was caught in his snare trap. he hated having to do this but lately his traps weren't working and he hadn't been able to catch a rabbit in days.

his family were growing hungry and agitated and baekhyun couldn't deny the fact that he was either. he suspected something fishy was going on with his traps; they'd always worked in the past especially since his older brother showed him the best way to make one.

the rabbit soon fell limp in his hand, he stared pitifully at it before gently placing it in his satchel.

"why were you apologising to it?"

baekhyun's eyes quickly widened at the sudden unfamiliar voice. he spun around, falling backwards in fright at the sight of a boy. he was a lot taller than him, he had big brown eyes and his ears protruded from his head. he'd never seen him before; not around his district at least.

"who are you? did you follow me out here?"

"no, but i've been more focused on your snare traps. i guess you got here earlier than me." the tall boy let out a disheartened sigh.

"you—you've been messing with my traps?!" baekhyun quickly put on an angry demeanour, "my family have been hungry!"

"well, that makes both of us, kid." the stranger huffed as he held out his hand for the smaller boy on the ground.

baekhyun hesitated but nonetheless grabbed his much bigger hand and hoisted himself off the muddy ground, "i'm not a kid."

"yeah? well how old are you then?" the tall boy rose a brow as he folded his arms, he was pretty sure he was a lot older than the small boy; he looked at least twelve.

"i'll be fourteen this may." baekhyun furrowed his brows.

"ah, you really are older than me," the tall boy let out a surprised breath, "but you're still smaller than me," he let out a chuckle, "what's your name?"

"byun baekhyun." the smaller boy spoke up, "and you?"

"park chanyeol."

"i've never really seen you before in my district, do you live closer to the paper-making region? i've never been there before."

"paper-making?" baekhyun face contorted in confusion, he thought for a moment on what the taller meant, "my family don't make paper."

"oh, then what do they do?" chanyeol furrowed his brows, curious on where the unfamiliar boy came from in his district.

"my mother weaves fabrics," baekhyun replied, looking up at the tall boy's slim face, his brows slowly furrowing as he watched his expression quickly change as if he'd seen a ghost.

"oh my god, you're from district eight."

"yeah, it's not that difficult to figure it out—" baekhyun was quickly cut off when the taller boy spoke up again.

"i've never seen someone from another district in person before, well someone who isn't a victor."

baekhyun brows immediately furrowed, he thought the boy in front of him was joking; making up some nonsense to mess with him. until it slowly hit baekhyun as well. his district wasn't known for paper but the district with a number right below his was; a district that was known for wood. 

district seven.

•

baekhyun couldn't say how it happened or why. but meeting with the taller boy from district seven soon became a normal occurrence. he seemed to know his way around plants and berries, baekhyun could only guess that was because he was with trees most of the time.