Since I first read SOTR a year ago, I've been turning over and picking at a concept for a dual-timeline never-reaped fic including the parents in my head, and idk, thanks to the magic of everlark week or something, I wrote 50k words in the last seven days. So I guess we're doing this.
to be known the way you should
A dual timeline never-reaped AU about falling in love, living in the shadow of your parents’ secrets, and the power of being brave enough to be yourself in a world that doesn’t want to let you.
prologue & chapter 1
For one reason or another, I've thought about that story a lot over the years. As I've come to see my dad with eyes clearer than a five-year-old's, I've decided there's a crucial part he left out—there's absolutely no way he put up a fight. And by put up a fight, I mean said or did anything at all. Because my dad has many virtues, but he's a fucking coward. From the way he deals with the Capitol-managed suppliers for the bakery to his response to my mother's…worse tendencies, I can't name one time in the last 22 years that he's stood up for himself or anyone else. If it seems like it might be hard or risky or involve confrontation, Otho Mellark is simply not going to do it. And I've always been afraid that—along with his stocky build and shy smile—this was one of the things I inherited from him.
