#and dale and buck end up running into each other instead and burning a body together. bonding

[danidoesathing]

👀 (for end of year wip ask game)

“You don’t know my brother. He’s always doing some stupid shit. Damn miracle that he ain’t dead yet,” he says. “Dumbass is too stubborn to die.”

The image of Johnnie suddenly flashes in his mind – worse off than he’s ever been after any brawl or crash, torn up face covered in blood and black and barely awake enough to throw up what little was left in his stomach in a half-brained attempt to stop an overdose – and brief levity is gone. They had all played fast and loose with death. Johnnie treated it like a game more often than not, because everything was a damn game to him. At least one he was good at playing. But that…that was too close. That was way too damn close. This wasn’t a nasty bike crash or a fight gone sour. That was an execution, one he had no right living through with how much shit he had in his system. To say it’s a miracle he’s alive is an understatement. There ain’t too many people out there that can survive getting black-brained. Dale ain’t anything in way of a believer, but he thanks whatever god or devil that decided to give his brother the luck he has.

He clears his throat, forcing the image out of his mind and focusing on the present.

“Planned on coming out here to take care of them myself, but, uh,” he gestures to the blazing pile. “You beat me to the punch.”

The guy hums. but doesn’t bother looking up from whatever he’s fiddling with in his hand.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he says eventually. “I don’t know your brother.”

“Guessed that much. But still- you saved me the trouble of dealing with that myself. Thought if I couldn’t at least buy you a drink, saving your sorry ass ain’t a half bad fill-in.”

“You didn’t-” he cut himself off with a sharp exhale, the sudden resolve dying out just as fast as it appeared. He rubs at his injured leg, and only chokes out a quiet, “Ok.”

[twdeadfanfic]

It’s a dog’s life Pt.10

*Summary: The reader is new and alone at the quarry’s camp, the only one she has is her dog, who seems to be best friends with Daryl Dixon, a not so friendly man, but that friendship will bring the reader closer to Daryl, finding that there’s more to Daryl than what you can see at first glance…besides, he’s pretty hot at first glance, isn’t him?

*Slow burn, both reader and Daryl’s pov, violence and language twd style.Follows the events of season 1 and 2.

*4112 words

*Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader

Chapters: 10/14

*Link to my masterlist with my other works can be found on the description of this blog. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but tumblr doesn’t show posts with links in the tags

Last chapter Daryl got hurt looking for Sophia and the reader has alternated between keeping an eye on him and going looking for Sophia. but she hasn’t had much luck at it...

........................................................................................................................

In just a day, Hershel declared Daryl good enough to leave the house, though he still had to rest on his tent and shouldn’t move too much or he might pop a stitch. Daryl was recovering fast, sure, but you also knew Hershel didn’t like to have your people in his house. Carl was on his feet too and running around already, to everyone’s relief.

You were cleaning the stables and tending to the horses, all of you were working around the farm to try and gain Hershel to your side, and you were trying to make up for having taken the horses too. As soon as you finished, you intended to go check on Daryl. Cole had been with you for a while, but now he had disappeared and you had a feeling of where he might be.

Your guess had been right, you saw him running away from Daryl’s tent to catch a small stick that had landed not too far from the tent and which probably Daryl had thrown him from inside. Cole took the stick and walked into the tent, you behind him.

“Hi, there.” You greeted, kneeling down inside the tent. Daryl gave you a nod and a hum, taking the stick and scratching Cole’s head, who just seemed to realize you were there, barking as a greeting and licking your hand. You noticed a book on the ground next to Daryl and you picked it up. “What you got there?”

“Andrea gave it to me earlier.”

You read the summary, it seemed to be some sort of detectives and crimes thing. You were pretty sure you had read through all of Dale’s books but it seemed you had missed that one. It seemed like a good way to pass the time.

“Want me to read it to you?”

“I can read it myself.” Daryl snapped.

“I know.” You rolled your eyes and nudged his leg with your foot. “I just thought it could be fun. But whatever.”

Daryl glanced at you for a split of a second, fidgeting with the stick he had been throwing to Cole, before lying down on his sleeping bag.

“Okay…read it if you want…” He said quietly. You opened the book and started reading it aloud.

You didn’t stop until it was time for dinner, almost having gone through the whole book.

“We’ll finish it tomorrow, alright?”

*

Next morning you were all having breakfast outside your tents, Daryl included. He looked so much better than a couple of days ago, though you knew his wound was still bothering him. Breakfast was delicious, a scramble made by Carol with fresh eggs, and you tried to enjoy it despite the tense and silent atmosphere around you. Whatever was going in on in the group, you didn’t really feel like getting involved, you just wanted to stay focused on Sophia’s search.

“Guys…” You hadn’t finished your scramble when Glenn began to speak, looking nervous. “So…there are walkers in the barn.”

You couldn’t believe it until you saw it, but it was true, you could see a group of walkers locked inside the barn and you couldn’t figure out why in the world would Hershel keep them there, and you had the feeling that asking him wouldn’t end up good. Apparently, according to Dale who somehow knew it, Hershel thought those walkers were his sick family and friends and therefore he wouldn’t kill them. You already had told Maggie about the CDC and Rick had done the same to Hershel, waiting for a cure was delusional, yet it didn’t seem like it would change the Greene’s mind.

A fight broke between Shane and Rick, since one wanted to clear the barn while Rick thought that would only make Hershel kick you out of the farm. You agreed with Rick, you were already on thin ice with Hershel, but living next to a barn full of walkers didn’t sound like the safest thing.

You could leave the farm, but you hated the idea of going back to the road without a destination, probably only to find that Fort Benning and everything else were gone forever, you couldn’t be sure you would find another heaven like that farm. Besides, you couldn’t leave without Sophia.

Turned out it seemed Shane could, as he thought there was no way you would find Sophia by now, much less alive. You knew how many days had passed, you knew how dangerous the world was, and if you had been less enraged at Shane for saying something like that in front of Carol and seeing tears coming to her eyes, you might have thought he had a point.

“Shut your mouth!” You snapped at Shane.

“I’m close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!” Daryl came from behind you to get on Shane’s face.

“You found her doll, Daryl. That’s what you did. You found a doll.” Shane snapped back. “I’m just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, it’s in the first 48 hours.”

Both men were glaring at each other and you were sure a fight was going to break between them so you stepped between them to try and stop them even though you wanted to punch Shane yourself, you didn’t want Daryl getting hurt and worsening his injuries, and if those two started fighting probably the situation would escalate too much. Rick came to stand at your side, trying to calm them down too.

“Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction.”

Daryl tried to throw himself at Shane at that but the others rushed to try and pull both men apart. You couldn’t believe Shane would say something like that after all Daryl had done trying to find Sophia. You saw red, anger rising inside you, and you went for Shane, pushing him as hard as you could.

“Y/N!” Lori, who had been dragging Shane away from Daryl, looked at you wide-eyed but you didn’t even hear her.

“What the hell did you just say?!” You yelled at Shane, pushing him again. He was looking at you seeming too surprised to do anything. “You haven’t done shit to try and find Sophia, Daryl’s been there every day and organizing everything, so shut your mouth or I’ll make you shut it!”

“Why don’t we all calm down?” Andrea dragged you away from Shane and you didn’t resist, you could hear the walkers banging the doors of the barn, excited by the commotion going outside.

The discussion kept going about what to do, Dale seemed sure Hershel would never let you clear the barn, but Rick told everybody he would talk to Hershel. It wasn’t like you could do much else, if you cleared those walkers you would not only be kicked out of the farm but also couldn’t keep looking for Sophia from a safe place.

You saw Daryl storming away and you followed him. “Hey, hey wait.” Daryl didn’t stop, heading to his tent, and you tried to keep his pace. “Shane was talking bullshit.”

“Leave me alone, Y/N.” Daryl snapped and you tried not to take it to heart, knowing he was upset. Maybe he needed to be alone and so you stopped following him.

There were people on watch on the barn while Rick tried to sort things out with Hershel. Shane was one of them and you didn’t feel like facing him again so you walked away. You looked for Maggie, wanting to confront her about the barn. You tried to think about what to say so your temper wouldn’t get the best of you and you ended up lashing at her instead of just trying to have an actual talk.

“Maggie, hey, hum…let’s talk.” You maybe sounded more demanding than you had intended, but you didn’t think it was a bad start, you weren’t snapping or anything.

“You all know about the barn.” Maggie rolled her eyes before glaring at you. “I knew that idiot couldn’t have his mouth shut!”

“What did you expect him to do, we sleep there! We could be walkers dinner at any moment!” Your resolution to try to stay calm was soon gone. “How insane is to keep walkers in the barn?!”

“You know nothing!” Maggie snapped.

“No, you know nothing!” You snapped back. “You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen! I told you about the CDC already, your father is delusional thinking they’re sick people waiting for a cure…there’s no cure, there’s nothing, they’re dead!”

“You don’t understand it!” By know you knew Maggie’s temper was usually at par with yours, she’d stood her ground in your previous arguments, so you were shocked to notice her eyes watering. “Those you call monsters are my family!”

“They are people no more, they are dead…think about it and I know you’ll see it.” Your voice had softened, you didn’t have the heart to yell at her anymore. “It’s dangerous. We all have lost people…they’re gone, those are just bodies. And they aren’t coming back.”

Maggie said nothing, just shook her head and you didn’t see a point on keep pushing it. You could just hope Rick could make Hershel understand it, but you weren’t hopeful at all.

“Hey…Glenn did what he did to protect us, but he’s all head over heels with you.” You said softly. “Don’t go hard on him.”

“We’ll see about that…”

*

You were throwing sticks at Cole, not knowing what to do with yourself, when you saw Carol approaching you. She seemed upset and like she had been crying so you rushed to her, your head full of the worst scenarios about Sophia.

“What’s wrong?!”

“It’s Daryl…” Carol said and you blinked in surprise at that. “I found him on the stables, trying to get a horse ready to go looking for Sophia, but you know he’s not good enough, he’s still hurt.” You shook your head at his stubbornness. “And I’m grateful he’s looking but he already got hurt, I didn’t want him getting worse…he didn’t like it when I told him…”

You could imagine and you reached out to take Carol’s hand. “Don’t be upset, he’s an idiot sometimes.”

“I know.” Carol gave you a sad smile. “But he’s a good man and I don’t want him hurting himself…can you check on him so he doesn’t try to go again? Maybe you’ll have better luck than me.”

You let out a sigh. Babysitting Daryl when he was upset and angered didn’t sound like the best plan, but you were concerned Carol was right and Daryl might try again to go looking for Sophia when he was still recovering.

“Alright…maybe my dog will have better luck than I.”

You found Daryl inside his tent, fidgeting with an arrow, stabbing it in an out of one of the tent’s nets…it didn’t seem he was in the best mood, and he glared at you when he noticed you approaching but you kept going anyway, crouching down and getting inside the tent.

“Get out!” Daryl didn’t lose time to snap at you.

“Tell me that at least the horse you were trying to take wasn’t the one who threw you.” You tried to stay unfazed by his anger. “I mean, I’m not sure if you’d be sensible like that considering you just tried to leave, alone, riding a horse while still having stitches on your side, you know.”

“Leave me alone.” He growled.

“Okay. But if you try to do something like that again I’m not letting you.”

“I don’t need your permission or nothing, girl, you ain’t gonna babysit me, now leave me the hell alone!” Daryl threw away the arrow he had been playing with, angry, and Cole barked excitedly and ran to pick up the arrow as if he thought Daryl was playing with him. You rolled your eyes, maybe those two got along so well because they were idiots sometimes.

“You worried Carol, Daryl, she’s afraid you’ll hurt yourself…”

“I ain’t hurting myself! That bitch should be worrying about her damn daughter and not about me!”

“What the hell did you just call her?!” Now you were angry. “Daryl Dixon you might be my friend but if I ever hear you calling another woman that, I’m gonna smack you in the head so hard it’ll be worse than when Andrea shoot you.”

That seemed to silence Daryl, if only because he was surprised at your outburst. He averted his eyes from you and began fidgeting with the arrow that Cole had brought back, slightly chewed.

“Don’t know why she’d care anyway…” He mumbled.

“Because you’ve been looking for her little girl non-stop, giving her hope...because you’re a good man, Daryl, even though sometimes you’re a prick. So yes, she cares for you and doesn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I wasn’t gonna hurt myself,” Daryl grumbled again and you didn’t bother to reply, let him have that. “Carol said we don’t know if we’re gonna find Sophia…she gave up…”

“She didn’t, it’s just…” You let out a sigh and flopped down to sat down on the floor of the tent. “I guess she’s trying to be ready in case the worse might happen or in case we have to leave…”

“She doesn’t think I can find her.”

“It’s not that.” You nudged his foot with yours gently. “If-when we find Sophia, it’ll be thanks to you.”

“Not if I’m here sitting on my ass doing nothing.” He sounded angry again. “I have to go looking for her, none else is gonna do it, not now with the barn and all.”

“Yell all you want but I’m not letting you go, you’re recovering.” Daryl seemed about to snap but you kept talking before he could. “I’ll go, okay? Right now, I’ll go looking for Sophia.”

Daryl seemed to think it for a moment and then he nodded reluctantly. “Are you taking Maggie with you?”

“Well…I’m not sure if she’s angry at me or not…” You hadn’t talked to her again. “Besides, she left with Glenn on a run. I’ll go by myself.”

“You shouldn’t go alone.” Daryl surprised you, you had thought he’d be rushing you to leave.

“Don’t think none is about to join me…” You shrugged, Daryl was right, everyone seemed too busy right now.

“I would.”

“You’re recovering.” You said again, making Daryl roll his eyes.

“You won’t go alone.”

“Okay…what if I try and get some of the others to help me with the search?” Only a couple of people were watching the barn, the others should be free to join the search and you planned to make them feel as guilty as possible if they didn’t volunteer.

“Alright…But if they don’t then I’m going with you.”

“We’ll see about that…” Daryl seemed mostly okay but you could see some blood on his shirt from when he had hurt himself trying to saddle the horse, he still should take it easy. “And no horses this time.”

Daryl said nothing to that, just shrugged and kept fidgeting with the arrow. You reached out to pull up his shirt, wanting to check on his wound, and Daryl flinched away from your hand, wincing as he did so.

“Sorry.” You rushed to apologize, pulling your hand off him. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine.” He grumbled, though she frowned as he looked at the bloodstains as if noticing it for the first time.

“You might have popped a stitch…can I check it?” You reached out again but didn’t touch him until Daryl nodded. You lifted his shirt and carefully removed the soiled bandage to reveal his wound. It had bled a bit but it didn’t look bad. “I don’t know…maybe Hershel should check it…”

“No.”

“Alright, let me clean it a bit then.” You had ‘borrowed’ some disinfectant, gauzes, antibiotics and things like that from Hershel’s cabinet, in case he sent you all away. You felt bad about it, but it’d be worse if you were on the road again and didn’t have medical supplies.

Daryl raised an eyebrow at you when he saw you taking out of your bag some gauze and disinfectant, as if guessing where you had taken it from, but he said nothing. Pouring some disinfectant into the gauze, you cleaned the wound and applied a fresh bandage.

“There you go.” You finished cleaning and rebandaging him. You bit your lip thinking about how the arrow had gone through his side, impaling him. It was a wonder he was not only alive and recovering so fast but also how he had managed to go back to the farm all by himself. You didn’t want to think how close he had been of dying.

“Thanks,” Daryl said without looking at you and you both stayed silent for a while, Daryl back at fidgeting with the arrow and you busying yourself stroking Cole’s fur. Maybe it was time for you to leave, but you kept catching Daryl giving you side glances and you waited for him to speak.

“When you went for Shane…” He finally began, eyes trained on the ground. “I hadn’t seen you that angry since you threatened that doc with an ax.”

“Yeah, well, Shane was spitting a lot of bullshit.” You were still angry at him. “I can’t believe he’d say that about Sophia in front of Carol. I can’t believe he said those stupid things about you, either!” You felt like punching him even though you knew you wouldn’t stand a chance against Shane. “You know it was bullshit, right?” Daryl just shrugged, avoiding your gaze. “Well, it was.”

“Thanks.” He whispered, eyes still down.

“You’re my friend I’m going to stand for you, and Shane was a prick. I’m not letting anyone talk bullshit about you.” You stated, unashamed, you didn’t know when you had become so protective over Daryl but there it was. “You’re a prick sometimes too but I would never smack you, no matter what I said before, I won’t. But I’ll smack Shane if he ever says something like that again.”

His eyes snapped up to look at you at that, seeming surprised, and then his lips curled up into a lopsided, small smile. He should smile more often. He looked down quickly, blushing. “Thanks.”

“That thing he said about you wearing geek ears…was that true?” You wanted to have him talking about something else and you were genuinely curious. “Why?” You asked when he nodded.

“Thought it might mistake the smell to other geeks.”

“That’s so smart…you’re so smart.” You were always amazed at how resourceful and quick at thinking Daryl was.

“Stop.” He grumbled, blushing even more.

“But it’s true!”

“I don’t know if it works or not.”

“Smart anyway.”

Silence fell between you both until Daryl broke it again. “Shane’s lying about Otis, I think he left the man as bait or something like that.”

“Why?” You didn’t doubt Daryl but that sounded too bad even for Shane.

“His story doesn’t add up.” Daryl didn’t elaborate more and you didn’t ask. You knew how observant and smart he was, so if he was suspicious about Shane then probably he had a reason and wasn’t mistaken. The idea was too horrible to think about it, though. “I ain’t saying anything, the Greene’s would kick us out of here if they knew.”

“Hershel might kick us out anyway.” You let out a sigh. “Rick’s talking with him…I’m gonna see if he’s done to ask him to come looking for Sophia with me.”

“Alright.”

“You gotta apologize to Carol, okay?” You reminded him and Daryl shrugged.

“How?” He murmured sheepishly, sounding so childish it was adorable.

“Try saying sorry.” You retorted and Daryl rolled his eyes.

You kneeled up but before you crawled out of the tent you leaned over to kiss Daryl’s cheek, you just felt like it. Daryl looked at you with wide, surprised eyes before frowning.

“What was that for?”

You just shrugged, giving him a small smile before leaving his tent.

Rick found you before you found him, walking towards you with a map on his hand. “It’s time we go back to the search, come with me?”

“I was just looking for you to ask you the same…did you talk with Hershel? Is he kicking us out?”

“We’re not leaving.” Rick didn’t hold your gaze and it wasn’t exactly the answer to what you were asking, but for now, it’d have to be enough, he was already unfolding the map before you could say anything. “So what do you think, should we check this area?”

“Maybe…I could ask Daryl, he’ll know what’s the best plan.”

“Alright, you do that and I go see if someone else’s free to join us.” Rick patted your shoulder and headed away, and you went back to Daryl’s tent.

He was outside, pacing back and forth as he glanced nervously at the RV where you knew Carol was. You couldn’t help your small smile, he was so cute sometimes. “Just go and say sorry,” you said as you placed a hand on his arm. He flinched but relaxed when he saw it was you. “She’s your friend and cares about you, she’ll forgive you if you apologize.”

Daryl shrugged as if trying to show he didn’t care, but you knew better. You unfolded the map and pointed at the area Rick was telling you. “So Rick thinks we could check this area, we’re leaving in about an hour, what you think?”

“Yeah…” Daryl nodded. “We should check this other again too. I’ll go too.”

“Not happening.”

“I’m fine, I can walk so I can search for her.” Daryl rolled his eyes, seeming exasperated again. He was just so damn stubborn.

“Apologize to Carol and then we’ll see.”

You went looking for Rick but couldn’t find him anywhere. He couldn’t have just disappeared in a moment. You noticed Glenn and Maggie on the stairs of the porch, seeming to have made up, at least that was good.

“Have you seen Rick?” You asked when you approached them. “We were supposed to go looking for Sophia.”

“No, sorry.”

You let out a sigh and sat down to wait for him. Time passed and he still wasn’t showing up, and you didn’t know if you should be angry at him or worried. You noticed Daryl and Carol approaching, those two seeming to have made up too and you couldn’t help your smile.

“Weren’t we leaving?” Daryl asked, annoyed.

“Don’t know where Rick is.”

“Fine, we leave without him.” He scoffed.

Before any of you could say anything else, Shane approached you carrying a big bag full of guns which he began passing to everyone, saying how you needed to secure the place and deal with that barn before it was too late, ignoring Maggie and Lori asking him to stop. You wanted the farm to be safe, sure, but doing what Shane intended to do would just cause more trouble and Hershel would never forgive it.

Cole growled, nervous, and you grabbed him by his collar, trying to calm him.

“This is not a good idea.” You grabbed Daryl’s arm with your free hand when he took one of the rifles, you thought he might yank his arm free but he didn’t, turning to look at you. “Hershel will kick us out for sure.”

“What the hell is that?”

You all followed Shane’s gaze to find Hershel and Rick walking towards the barn and you couldn’t believe your eyes but they had a walker with them in some sort of lash, as if they were walking it to the barn…did Hershel collect them there? What was that? You hadn’t thought the man insane, just delusional, but this was too much.

Shane ran to them, yelling at them, you all running behind…and then the storm began. Shane was out of control, yelling and shooting at the walker, and before any of you could do anything he had opened the barn, walkers stumbling out.

“Y/N, don’t let the dog go to them!” Daryl warned you while he aimed the rifle and shoot, along with Shane, Andrea, Rick, T-Dog, even Glenn, murdering the Greene’s family in front of their eyes. It had to be done, you knew it, those weren’t people, they were monsters, but the Greene’s looked so broken you couldn’t look while the monsters dropped dead.

And when you thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. A last, little walker stumbled out of the barn.

Sophia.

...................................................

Aw...you know what’s coming :( Do you think Daryl’d keep himself away from the reader and the dog? Or would he look for comfort on them? We’ll see...

Anyway, thank you for reading! Please, if you have a moment drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts, I’d love to read it and talk to all of you, it keeps me inspired and going!

As always, English is not my first language so sorry if there are mistakes.

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[loveinpanem-blog]

Speechless

by @titaniasfics

Rated M

Canon compliant. Between the end of MJ and the Epilogue. Just a touch of magical realism.

Inspired by this Visual Prompt: X (slightly nsfw) . Written for Love in Panem’s Spring Showers April Challenge.

Autor’s note: I had a conversation once with @madamemarquise in which we discussed how vocal Everlark smut was in some fics (including my own). It gave me the idea of writing a smut drabble with no dialogue. Being “speechless,” the piece emerged as somewhat surreal, so that Katniss’s thoughts take on a “real” life of their own, hence the magical realism. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who read and beta’d this - @eala-musings, @madamemarquise, @akai-echo, @mega-aulover and @thegirlfromoverthepond . You ladies are the best!

Katniss woke to a house in silence. Stretching languidly, she found herself in a tangle of bed sheets and pillows, now mostly cool where her skin did not touch them. When she turned her head into the pillow, she could smell both of them on it. Everywhere she slid her hand along the rumpled mattress cover, she recalled each kiss, each sigh, each grunt and thrust they’d battered each other with the night before. It had been a long night, but the memory of it made her body sing again.

She slid two fingers between her folds, still sticky from their exertions and nearly gave herself over to the fantasy of Peeta inside of her again, rubbing himself along those same folds, making her delirious with want again, but she pulled back. It was all too much, and she needed to give herself a chance to breathe.

The house was empty - Peeta had left early to work in the bakery, though how he could bear to do so after the night they’d had was beyond her.  He had always been so strong, so steady, but the last year since his return to District 12, he’d not only healed physically, the calm, post-war life had allowed him to finish his development. He was more man than boy. He no longer carried his youth in the slightly rounded cheeks or stocky figure from the Reaping. It was as if a layer of him had been burned away by time and circumstance, beneath which hid a fully-formed man.

She suspected she must have changed too. She felt herself more substantial, though always on the petite side. Her musculature had developed, she’d grown two inches and her curves had filled out. She had something that resembled cleavage though she’d never be a buxom woman. Her hips were no longer angular but rounded and smooth. Peeta said he loved the changes, said he loved her. It took her so long to believe him. Those words of adoration never failed to thrill her.

She went to the bathroom instead, relieved and cleaned herself but could not tear herself away from the bed. She crawled onto it again and spread out on her back, now prickling from the contact with the cool blankets. When the spot had become warm, she rested on her elbows, glancing around the sun-dappled room until her gaze fell on the pale green envelope propped against a mug on the end table. Katniss reached across, the breeze from the window Peeta always left open ruffling the hairs that escaped her loose ponytail. She grasped the envelope and pulled it to her, opening the lip. Inside was a simple card with a note scrawled in cursive writing. Katniss smiled as she read it.

The night was made for loving you,

And the day for missing you.

I will carry the taste of you on my lips.

-P

Katniss sighed, her head dropping back as the warmth of his words and the memory of the mouth that spoke them, washed over her. When she thought she might drown in a sea of want she shook herself and pulled the mug of tea towards her, setting aside the small plate that Peeta had used for a cover to keep the dark, slightly sweetened liquid warm.

She sipped, staring out of the window. It was the kind of day the old Katniss loved. The kind of day she loved again - fresh, bright, full of new things. The dallying breeze carried the smell of life springing up around them. Katniss glanced down at herself, tracing the webbing of scars that pranced and danced across her body. For a moment, they glowed in the sunlight light and she thought, if it had been night, she would no longer be Katniss, but a map of the Milky Way. Or Orion, and her love would be the bear she forever hunted.

For once, she did not rush to cover herself.  In that moment, she saw what Peeta claimed to see when he looked at her - shiny, olive skin, smooth where the fire hadn’t licked it into puckered ridges. Her legs, largely untouched, were long and defined from a lifetime of climbing boulders and trees. She had a brief flashback of them, wrapped around Peeta’s undulating hips and brought the cup to her lips to quell the heat that threatened to scald her raw.

She couldn’t stop her thoughts from flying to him, now in the bakery, strong arms kneading bread until the muscles rippled and bulged in his forearms - a coordinated dance of power sinking relentlessly into the soft, tender bread dough. She saw his irresistibly sweet smile as he served customers, the clever words that fell from his full lips. There was a twinkle in his eyes when he told Iris and Dale to hold down the fort for a couple of hours.

She watched him drop his apron on the desk in the back office, slip out the back door to the narrow alley behind the shop, and walk as quickly as his prosthetic allowed up the winding, tree-lined road that led to Victor’s Village. The columns on either side were destroyed but at least the rubble had long since been cleared away.

He took the front stairs slowly, fumbling with the single key on the imposing front door, the one that opened every lock in the house. The sound of metal against metal slid through the voluminously empty space of the entryway - wasted space, in Katniss’s opinion, but the Capitol had never been pragmatic when it came to such things.

Katniss’s heart began to pound when his uneven steps thumped dully as he took to the stairs. The rough rhythm of his steps beat in time with her heart, the percussion radiating along the floorboards of the landing as he approached with a steady but undeterred tempo.  

She glanced over her shoulder when the door creaked open and was not surprised when his bulk filled the doorway. She did not even stop to question how she knew - she just did. He stepped towards the bed, standing at the foot, watching where she still rested on her elbows, half-drunk tea trembling dangerously in the cup.

He had taken to wearing suspenders lately, and now slipped them off of his shoulders. He held her gaze as he tugged the t-shirt off over his head and undid his pants, ridding himself of both pants and underwear with one, smooth motion. Katniss watched quietly, sipping the cooling tea, her bent knees swaying slightly in unison - left-right-left-right, like two thin skyscrapers sweeping against a blue sky.

He stood naked before her, the sun from the window behind him illuminating his outline, golden and healthy. Gone were the ghosts and shadows from his eyes. His own scars gouged rivulets of violent memories across his skin, a striking contrast to the taut, fair skin around them. His blond hairs lifted gently in the breeze as he knelt at the foot of the bed and crawled between her casually bent legs. Katniss gripped her cup harder as he left languid kisses along the inside of her thighs. When he reached her heated core, he leaned back on his haunches and, with a sly smile that told her he understood everything, took the endangered cup from her, setting it back on the table where he’d left it.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against hers before he returned to his original position between her thighs. He spread her legs wide, causing her to a gasp, but still, she did not speak. She felt the tip of his thick, baker’s fingers run the length of her slit, tickling her lips with featherlike strokes as if he were painting his next work on her most intimate places.  Katniss grasped the edge of a bed sheet and curled it in her fist, trying not to melt into a puddle of aching desire before his eyes. She wanted this to last as long as she could stand it.

Assiduously, he continued his play until he slipped a finger inside of her. Katniss dropped her head back onto the bed, nondescript sounds of pleasure falling from her lips, moans that were at once familiar and foreign to her ears.  She had no words - she had never been one to chatter - and she wanted her every last sense focused on that thing he was doing to her.

When he had teased her to mindlessness, he lowered his head and licked her - one long, hot stroke that caused her to arch her back, pressing her heels down into the mattress. He placed an arm over her belly to keep her still and blew gently on her - warm breath pouring like lava over her tender flesh.  Without warning, he slipped his tongue inside of her, melting her from the inside out. She watched his head move and bob, switching back and forth in time with his strokes, and panted harder at the sight. If anyone had told her even a year ago that this would be the way she’d dream of being taken by him - with his mouth and fingers and tongue - she would have died of horror and embarrassment.

Now she died a little each time he pulled away. She grasped his hair, tugging him, provoking a chuckle from him that reverberated up her belly and down her bucking legs. He curled his lips, sucking gently on her swollen nub of desire, prodding her wordlessly with the insistent pressing of tongue and lips against her until she felt that now familiar swelling. She became a musical note that he sang without sound into the highest chords until the piano slammed down on all the keys and catapulted her to a place without coherence. Words were a meaningless impediment when there were hands to touch and skin to stroke, and she shattered with a long keening that cascaded into deep moans and shudders of pleasure.

They both panted, her from her rising, him from his labors. He wiped in lips as he watched the spectacle of her returning to herself, the thousands of expressions that she would never see, who she became before she ended in a heaping mass of boneless flesh.  He licked her trembling skin, from the swirling vortex of her bellybutton to the proud, erect nipples of her breasts, swollen with anticipation for him. He devoured her there too as she slid her hands down his body and grasped his shaft. His eyes, closed as he suckled on her, flickered open, holding hers. She didn’t blink as she stroked him, coaxing him to her.

His tongue ran jagged lines along her neck and shoulders, nicking the ridges of her scars with the tip. Still, she stroked, eliciting grunts from him that he let land on the place where her neck connected to her shoulder until it was her impatience that impelled her to push him onto his back.  She kissed him then, an open mouth kiss that caused her mouth to be flooded with her own taste. She would never have dreamed such a thing was possible, even the first time he tried to kiss her. But she had another mind when she was with him, became another person who did things that her modesty would have deemed unspeakable.

She kissed and stroked him, then broke off suddenly to lave his skin, all flushed and pink from his own feverish desire. She learned not long ago that he loved it when she kissed his nipples and so she did, following his lead, swirling her tongue over them, drawing them out, nipping at the tender skin around them. His skin beckoned and she traveled further, over the taut expanse of his stomach, teeth and kisses marking the trajectory lower, beyond the path of golden hairs that grew darker and curlier. From this thick forest he rose, twitching and hard. As if he had not been inside of her only a few hours earlier.  As if he had never had her.

Without the teasing artifice he had shown her, she engulfed the tip and took him in her mouth as far as she could. The air became noisy with his groans, the sound of her mouth on him, the wet suction and release as she moved over him. His heavy breathing and indistinct sounds gave her courage, making her bolder, faster until he pushed her gently away, his thumb lingering lovingly on her chin.

She held those smouldering blue eyes in her gaze as she undid the clasp of his prosthetic, kissing the damp skin that was revealed with the unrolling of the sleeve. She heard his sigh of relief - he told her once how much he loved the moment when he could relinquish this relic of their violent past, the reminder of the thing they took that he would never get back. He felt more whole when he did not have his false limb.

She climbed over him, still holding his gaze. It was intense and surreal in this way - both rendered speechless by the enormity, the wonder of this moment, by the fact that there was no reason they should have survived what they did and be here together, alive and greedy for each other’s touch. But here they were. After months of hesitation and shyness, they had abandoned the unspoken rules they had absorbed from a repressed society and given themselves to the other with an abandonment that bordered on madness.

She approached his face and kissed him, staring at him until her eyes crossed and she was forced to close her eyes. She ground her core against his and, with a deft shift of hands and hips, she sank down onto him until their pelvises were joined together. They both hissed together at the contact.

She gave her first smile then, the one that belonged to an older, competitive Katniss, the one who thrilled in bringing down a buck and having the biggest haul. She could never turn that pride into winning at all costs, even if it meant her survival. But she enjoyed the power she had over Peeta in this moment, the way she dominated their pace as she lifted and sank over him. And he smiled back as she moved. She owned his hunger, the near painful grip of his hands on her hip, the delirious surge of his body as he sought to close the stubborn space between them, the one that rendered one being into two solitary halves. He pulled her towards him, his mouth swallowing her breast, the whimpers stifled as he lunged upwards. Ruthlessly, with a ferocity of his own, he stole her advantage, pinning her to him as his pace became frantic. She was trapped by his mounting climax and it pushed her own undulating crest of tension over the edge.

With a mindless shout of joy she came, squeezing a groan of release from him as he followed behind her, the pulsing of her body drawing out every last drop of his pleasure. When they had risen, and convulsed and shuddered with the force of it, they collapsed against each other, panting wildly, searching for an anchor to bring them back to themselves.

Katniss rolled off of him, pushing her damp hair behind her ear. She turned her head to look at Peeta. His eyes were closed, as if he were calling back the scattered pieces of himself with a supreme act of will. How many times could a person do this before they dissolved into nothing? Sometimes, when she was sad, missing her sister, and hating herself for all the scars the world had borne in her name, she disappeared from everything in a very different way.

But this coming undone brought her back to life each and every time. After many months, she learned to embrace this too, without all the guilt that plagued the other aspects of her life. It was pure and reciprocal, a luxury she could permit herself because it kept Peeta intact also.

The sounds of the world came rushing back. Haymitch’s geese were riotous in their pen, the children of the community home had been unleashed in their enormous garden. Further down, someone shouted, trying to make a delivery. Katniss scooted towards Peeta, positioning herself in the place she’d made her own - the crook of his arm, head resting on his shoulder. She was not heavy and anyway, he was strong. The strongest person she’d ever known.

He opened his eyes finally and stared at her, appearing to take in every nuance of her face. His fingers followed the path of his eyes and she smiled again, drowsy and full to overflowing. He made to say something to her, to undo the last barrier that kept reality at bay, with its half satisfactions and defied expectations. But she stopped him with a kiss. Just a little longer, she thought, and then I’ll give you back to the world.