A/N: Hi, everyone! Long time no see! I'm just here to remind you all that my FFnet account is now an archive and will no longer be receiving any updates or new fics. In the meantime I have written a new Klaine fic with a unique crossover involving the universe of The Hunger Games. The fic is complete, 40k words, and I am posting updates twice a week (Monday/Thursday) over on my AO3 account.

If you'd like to see more you can find "Bread of Life" at Archive of Our Own dot org /works/3478958 - Anonymous comments are enabled, and I'd really appreciate your feedback. I still get review notifications for some of my older fics here, and I'm so glad people are still enjoying them. Thanks so much for your continued support!

- khal-blaine / HumanLikeYou

Prologue Excerpt:

It's only August. The 65th Hunger Games ended just a little over a month ago, but the early planning stages for the 66th Games are well underway. A group of mastermind collaborators is already busy at work crafting conceptual arenas, obstacles, and new technology to enhance the spectacle of the nation's most anticipated annual event. Having one's father be among the revered team of Gamemakers is an undeniably exciting prospect for a young man or woman growing up in the sometimes droll luxury of life in Panem's Capitol.

Burt Hummel graciously accepted the Head Gamemaker's invitation to join their ranks this year after running a widely-publicized, though ultimately unsuccessful political campaign to be elected to head the office of Welfare and Public Relations, a government institution characteristically meant to act as liaison between the Capitol and Panem's Districts, fostering patriotism and unity throughout the land. Though all the office has accomplished in the last few decades is creating propaganda documentaries and video clips that bookend television broadcasts each morning and night, the Capitol citizens apparently saw little need for change, voting in the same official who has been in power there since before Kurt was born.

Of course there were whispers of tampered poll results as soon as they were announced—Burt had been quite well-received for a previously unknown candidate—but no one dared nor cared enough to investigate.

In the wake of his loss, Kurt's father has set aside his political career and turned to the very different title of Gamemaker to fill his free time. And with Burt his only legal guardian, Kurt has been granted the rare opportunity to join his father at the Gamemakers' weekend meetings.

They take place at the Tribute Training Center in the middle of the Capitol. Before this adventure, Kurt had only ever seen it from the outside. He's not allowed into the meetings themselves for confidentiality reasons, but Kurt doesn't mind at all. There are more than enough things around the multiple floors of the virtually-deserted Training Center to keep an imaginative 14-year-old boy occupied. He visits every room he can access, seeing where the tributes sleep, train and spend their time in the days before they're sent to the Arena. Kurt enjoys taking the elevator up to the open-air rooftop most of all; it gives him a view of his city like he's never seen before. If he squints hard enough against the sunlight, he can almost see the edge of the tall wall that surrounds his home in the distance, keeping Capitol citizens in and the District dwellers out.

He rejoins his father for the meals that always follow the Gamemakers' meetings. Each one is a celebration of the new, inventive ideas thought up during the course of the day and a chance to instill camaraderie within the group. If there's one thing every Capitol citizen can bond over, after all, it's the succulent endlessness of the food on their heavily-laden tables.

He's been visiting the Training Center with his father for a month when Kurt first lays eyes on him. The young boy trails behind an older Avox that Kurt has seen here before serving their meals. He's wearing the same white uniform in a much smaller size. He's an Avox, too.

He can't be any older than Kurt. The Capitol boy has never seen a servant this young...

Read more at Archive of Our Own dot org /users/khal_blaine