info dump for daniel's hunger games verse, key players include @offenseonly, @systemsred ( haymitch + julie ), and @auteurish. open with plotting. warnings for discussion of death, murder, major injuries, and sex trafficking ( all in line with hunger games canon ).
daniel is the victor of the 58th hunger games, the only tribute haymitch manages to get out of the arena between his own win and katniss and peeta's joint victory. he's sixteen during his games, thirty - two during the 74th games and following victory tour, thirty - three during the 75th games, and turns thirty - four during the december that follows the end of the second rebellion.
he's part of a large family that occupies a small cluster of houses in the seam. when daniel is eight, his dad dies after spending just over two years battling an illness. later that year, he strikes up a friendship with a old man named mr. miyagi, who becomes a lifeline for the young boy. after daniel turns twelve, mr. miyagi starts teaching daniel how to fight, like his father taught him. this includes daniel learning a technique that allows him to disable his opponent's limbs using pressure points before delivering a killing strike, though mr. miyagi tells him it should only ever be used as a last resort.
during the 57th games, daniel becomes enamored with district 2 tribute and eventual victor johnny lawrence. it's the first time he's ever felt truly invested in the games. he follows the victory tour a few months later closely too. but he's careful not to talk too much about johnny, even when other kids at school bring him up. peacekeepers aren't kind to those who love differently and daniel can't trust that classroom talk won't get back to them.
daniel's district partner and ally during his games is julie pierce, a thirteen year old town girl that he's come to view as a sister after she started to train with him and mr. miyagi the previous year. even with a year of fight training under her belt, julie is still an underdog due to her age and size, and daniel vows to protect her for as long as he can.
daniel and julie meet the propos director assigned to cover district 12 on the train platform. his name is aaron kinsey. they do their best to ignore him over the next few days, even when he tries to engage them in conversation.
during the week leading up to the games, daniel proves himself to be a little bit of a problem child : he punches haymitch on their train ride into the capitol, snaps at his stylist following the opening ceremonies, and throws himself between district 2 tribute mike barnes and both district 7 tributes during an incident on the second day of training. though none of these things have been enough to catch the attention of anyone higher up, especially since daniel refused to fight barnes, haymitch reminds him that there are only so many stupid things daniel can get away with doing before haymitch is unable to help him.
in daniel's private session, he's finally able to show off the skill haymitch told him to conceal during training : hand - to - hand combat. although the trainer he fights is several inches taller and at least fifty pounds heavier, daniel's speed and unexpected style of fighting give him the upper hand. when his ten minutes are up, most of the gamemakers are paying attention to him. he gets a training score of nine, the highest score any of them can remember a tribute from district 12 getting. but there's one problem ... it's higher than mike barnes, who only received an eight.
when haymitch asks why he refused to fight barnes, daniel’s answer is simple : knowing how to fight doesn’t mean i want to fight. and so they decide to play him as the pacifist during his interview with caesar. the hope is that that, plus his high training score, will create enough intrigue around daniel for haymitch to get him sponsors.
daniel and julie avoid the bloodbath, grabbing a backpack and weapon each before running away and into the surrounding forest. it’s a fairly unassuming arena, one that might make the audience accuse the gamemakers of being uncreative … until they realize there are gorges scattered throughout the woods, some hidden by the foliage while others are in plain sight. a tribute could run straight into one without even realizing.
for the first several days, daniel and julie avoid other tributes by staying on the move as much as possible, only stopping when they’re forced to by a need to refuel or sleep. but then the inevitable happens : the career pack track them down, along with the tributes from district 5 that have been allowed to shack up with the careers for the time being. barnes is determined to have the fight daniel denied him during training.
it’s an ambush, catching daniel and julie by complete surprise in the middle of the day. barnes and the other two male careers attack daniel 3 on 1, while the female careers and district 5 engage julie in a fight. though initially overwhelmed, daniel manages to hold his own. julie does the same. district 5, realizing they’re ill equipped to handle district 12, run away to save their own skins. at this point, daniel is able to gain the upper hand. he takes down both district 1 and district 4’s male tributes, leaving only him and barnes. barnes, enraged, tackles him to the ground and daniel’s leg slams into a large rock. this causes his initial leg injury, but he keeps fighting barnes through the pain. their fight is ended abruptly by a tragedy. julie falls into one of the gorges, taking the district 1 and 4 girls down with her. three cannons go off in quick succession as they hit the bottom. barnes, his district partner, and the boys from district 1 and 4 leave to lick their wounds, though barnes promises he’ll track daniel down again sooner or later.
it takes daniel a full day to recover from the career pack’s ambush, getting as far from where it occurred as possible on his injured leg before setting up shelter. he’s without an ally for the remainder of the games, but that doesn’t mean he’s left to fend for himself. that night, he receives his first sponsor gift : pain medication. daniel’s showing against the careers allowed haymitch to seal the deal with a man named terry silver, one of the capitol’s wealthiest. silver usually only sponsors tributes from district 2, particularly those mentored by kreese johnson, the two having had a close “friendship” since kreese’s own games twenty or so years prior. but daniel’s caught silver’s attention and so he breaks from his own traditions to throw everything behind daniel. it’s the lucky break district 12 needed after losing julie.
a few days later, they’re down to the final eight : daniel, the remainder of the career pack, the girls from district 3 and 7, and the boy from district 10. the tributes from district 5 were killed the day after the careers ambushed 12, presumably due to their desertion of the pack. since the remaining tributes are incredibly scattered across the arena by now and there’s been a while without anything truly “exciting” happening, the gamemakers announce a feast for the next day.
daniel decides to take the risk and attend. on his way back towards the cornucopia, he encounters the boy from district 10. he decides to attack daniel. in the resulting scuffle, daniel is forced to pull the dagger he grabbed on day one and stab him. this is daniel’s first kill, having thus far managed to avoid using his weapon for more than fishing.
once the feast begins, a second bloodbath is quick to start. the girl from district 3 is taken out by barnes’s district partner, the boy from district 4 and girl from district 7 kill each other fighting over the same dish, and barnes decides to eliminate his district partner. daniel is made to fight the boy from district 1, who had agreed to “warm him up” for barnes, and daniel kills him, leaving his dagger behind, before running from the cornucopia as fast as he can. barnes is quick to follow.
now down to him and barnes, daniel knows he can only avoid this particular fight for so long. so he decides to make the first move this time, surprising barnes with a sucker punch to the gut once he catches up to daniel. the following confrontation is long, brutal, bloody. the exact kind of spectacle capitol audiences have come to love. barnes decides to target daniel’s already injured leg and stomps on his knee after kicking him to the ground. for a moment, it looks like barnes may win after all. but daniel, fueled by adrenaline, gets back up. they fight for a few minutes more. and something odd happens : daniel strikes barnes in the elbow, then armpit, and suddenly barnes is unable to lift his arm. daniel does the same to his other arm. it’s the pressure points technique mr. miyagi taught daniel, though no one knows that except the two of them. barnes is now completely at daniel’s mercy. and daniel isn’t feeling very merciful. he kicks barnes into a gorge they’ve found themselves near, only managing to stay standing long enough to watch barnes hit the bottom. the final cannon sounds. daniel larusso has won.
the next few days pass in a blur. the capitol’s surgeons operate on his leg twice, though they aren’t able to repair all of the damage done to it. he’ll walk with a limp for the rest of his life and deal with chronic pain that, at times, leaves him bedridden. he refuses the ornate cane offered to him. he doesn’t need, or want, the capitol’s gifts. when snow crowns him following the recap, he doesn’t make eye contact with the president.
at the victory banquet, haymitch introduces daniel to silver. he’s tall, dark hair pulled into a slicked back ponytail, and gives daniel a wide grin as he shakes his hand. silver is likable enough. daniel might even go as far to call the older man charming. but something about the way he continually forces himself into daniel’s space, finding excuses to touch him, during their conversation makes daniel feel sick to his stomach. he pushes the discomfort away. after all, this man was his sponsor. and he’s grateful for the gifts he sent during that final, excruciating week : the pain medication, the matches, the rice, the blanket. so he’d better act like it.
when they return to district 12, he and ma move into their new home in the victors’ village. they choose the house a few doors down from haymitch’s. although the rest of their family isn’t allowed to join them, they are frequent visitors. haymitch is too, though he’ll tell you he only comes for the wine served at family dinners.
during the victory tour, daniel is prone to finding a corner to hide in, desperate for a moment of peace. they’re near - impossible to get, even on the train between stops, when effie and haymitch spend so much time preparing him for the speeches and parties or aaron attempts to shove a camera into his face. he sneaks away entirely at the president’s mansion, stealing an hour for himself in one of its many sitting rooms. when he finally ventures back out, haymitch appears to pull him aside and deliver news that makes daniel’s stomach drop. silver has paid president snow for the pleasure of daniel’s company, so rather than return to the train and immediately start home for district 12 at the party’s conclusion, he’ll be going home with silver for the rest of the night. the terrible truth has finally revealed itself to both of them. silver sponsoring daniel was no lucky break, not when the man has now become obsessed with him.
daniel goes on to spend countless nights and days with silver over the next sixteen years. the man spends exorbitant amounts of money to make sure only he gets to buy daniel, something president snow is all too happy to accept. while his fellow victors, especially haymitch, and effie are all too aware of the truth, most in the capitol believe daniel to have consented to this. back home in 12, rumors about daniel and who in the capitol sends for him throughout the year follow him everywhere, though no one guesses daniel is being forced to go. this leads to some growing to resent daniel, believing him to have become more capitol than district.
daniel’s first year as a mentor, the year following his win, is particularly rough for him. the girl tribute for 12 that year is judy, one of the few people daniel calls a friend. she’s 18 on reaping day, but by the time the games start, her 19th birthday has already come and gone. in a just world, she wouldn’t be going into the arena at all. but that’s not one they live in. the only small mercy is that she dies quickly, though this does little to alleviate daniel’s guilt. she shouldn’t have been in there.
but the 59th games are when daniel finds himself entangled with something very important, too. or rather someone. he finally meets johnny lawrence properly, after daniel sneaks off for some air following the opening ceremonies and johnny finds the alleyway he’s hidden himself in. they get to talking and johnny shares his own post - games issues with daniel ( the TBI he experienced during the 57th games have left him with memory issues that make mentoring much more difficult, especially when dealing with sponsors ) and daniel finds himself compelled to tell johnny about silver. johnny is horrified at first, then says just about the last thing daniel expected to hear : could kill him. it’s the first time daniel’s heard someone outright express a desire to get rid of someone in the capitol. it reminds him of why he became so intensely infatuated with johnny during the 57th games. he’s honest, unafraid, protective … and so much more, he’s quick to find out. the crush he’s been nursing comes back tenfold and johnny surprises daniel again by returning his feelings.
from then on, daniel and johnny are in a relationship with one another. they’re careful to keep it a secret, especially from silver and snow, but haymitch and effie find out soon enough. ( other victors probably sus them out over time, though none of them are told outright. ) johnny is the one truly good thing in daniel’s life, the person who gets him through every terrible year. ma and the rest of the larussos come to realize that daniel has a special someone he sees every year during the games, different from the person who sends for him between them, though he only confides in one person outside of haymitch and effie about johnny : mr. miyagi. the old man is glad daniel’s found his happiness, in spite of all the factors keeping them apart for so much of the year.
daniel and johnny decide, several years in, that they want to get married. it’s not a legal ceremony, only symbolic, but effie is all too happy to procure a pair of gold wedding bands. it’s done in district 12’s penthouse at the training center, the only attendants besides the couple themselves being haymitch and effie. they wear their rings around their necks on chains in an effort to arouse less suspicion both in the capitol and back home in their districts. during the long months they’re separated, daniel allows the ring to serve as a reminder of who’s waiting for him every year. this helps to keep him from falling into the same sort of despair that haymitch falls victim to.
like haymitch, daniel becomes friends with a number of other victors over the years. he’s particularly fond of those from district 4.
when the 74th games roll around, daniel is quick to realize katniss and peeta are the first tributes district 12 has had in a long time that might be able to win. along with haymitch and effie, he coaches the two of them during the week leading up to the games. however, his other engagements ( silver, who’s taken to parading daniel around during the day, and johnny, who spends more nights in daniel’s bedroom on 12’s floor than he does in his own on 2’s ) leave haymitch to do the bulk of negotiating with sponsors on his own after the games begin.
when the quarter quell is announced, daniel tells katniss he won’t be going back into the arena. no ifs, ands, or buts. he has a reason to stay out, though katniss and peeta aren’t let on as to why until after they start watching the games of living victors. when they get to the 57th games, daniel can’t even manage to sit through johnny’s pre - games interview with caesar before he ups and leaves. watching it in real time was bad enough, before he even knew johnny. it would be agonizing to sit through now. and haymitch is quick to drop the bombshell on peeta and katniss when they ask what daniel’s issue is : that’s his husband.
at the remake center, as the other victors mingle with one another, daniel and johnny have a very public reunion. there’s no point in keeping their relationship a secret anymore. especially when daniel had demanded johnny was let in on plutarch’s plan to break katniss out of the arena. from that point on, the two of them are inseparable. because while johnny may be from district 2, he isn’t one of them. he hasn’t been in years. not when his love, his life, is district 12.
daniel loses most of his family when district 12 is bombed by the capitol. the only surviving larussos besides himself, by virtue of being part of plutarch’s plan, are ma and his cousins louie and nessa. ( mr. miyagi passed a few years prior, old age catching up to him. ) when they’re reunited in district 13, daniel is quick to introduce them to johnny. the special someone they’ve spent so long wondering about. johnny’s accepted as one of their own immediately.
aaron kinsey ends up in district 13 as well, having long since aligned himself with plutarch’s undercover group in the capitol. daniel still doesn’t particularly like him, but over the years they’ve settled into a shaky acquaintanceship, and the familiar face becomes a comfort to daniel as he adjusts to this new environment and accepts the loss of district 12 as he’s known it.
daniel and johnny become part of coin’s war council in district 13, daniel due to his ties to katniss and peeta and johnny because of the district he originates from. the latter allows johnny to make a deal with coin : he’ll tell her everything he knows about district 2 and their operations if he and daniel can get legally married. she’s quick to oblige. haymitch and effie attend this wedding as well, acting as their witnesses, but daniel’s family does too. it’s a small, private affair. unlike finnick and annie’s after she’s rescued from the capitol. but it’s more than enough for daniel and johnny, who wear gleaming silver bands on their hands now.
daniel is denied the opportunity to train as a soldier before the battle of the capitol, told he is strictly a non - combatant who will stay in district 13 until the capitol is secured due to his knee. johnny, however, is allowed to train and eventually cleared for combat. this leads to one of the few real fights daniel and johnny ever have, as daniel doesn’t want to let johnny go. what if something happens to him? johnny manages to convince daniel it’ll be fine, promising to live for him. they have too many years ahead of them to look forward to.
after the rebellion ends and panem has began to rebuild under its new leadership, daniel and johnny don’t return to either of their home districts. instead they settle in district 4, daniel having fallen in love with its beaches on first sight on his victory tour so long ago. they adopt two orphaned children shortly following the war’s end : a boy from district 2 named atticus, the biological son of johnny’s friend dutch, and a baby girl from the capitol named lexy, the daughter of an ambitious politician and her trophy husband. they have another son, antonio, and daughter, lauren, a few years later. the former is johnny’s biologically, while the latter is daniel’s. and while daniel and johnny are forever changed by their experiences as tributes and victors, they’re able to heal.
