#and i got my full lunch break….and annie was being nice to me…AND the bakery gave me a little treat…

[planet4546b]

ugh after the last few days today is going so well….literally chilling smiling having fun :)

[ophiedokes]

Oh. My. Fragging. Soul. You! Already! For me! THANK YOU. I have no words. Even that little snippet was EVERYTHING. I really don't mind being called the prosthetic anon lol it's true for a lot of things. I just... thank you??? It's amazing??? It even has Finn in it. Wow. WOW. You're far too kind thank you thank you.

to quote @ambpersand: it ain’t an AU until Finnick Odair shows up! I’ve got a little more for you.He comes to the bar every Tuesday after that. Madge isn’t there every week. Sometimes Delly Cartwright shows up, though not always. It’s a given, though, that Finnick and Annie show up. They were regulars before, mind, but never with quite this much consistency. Maybe they found a babysitter who can handle the kid every week. She isn’t sure. But he’s there, always. In the booth that she’s coming to think of as his, almost. Which is stupid. Especially because he never buys his own drink. Finnick always picks the tab up. She’s clearing glasses on a night when they’re particularly short when Finnick clears his throat to get her attention. “Hey,” he says. “You know Peeta.” She wants to be annoyed, because she doesn’t have time for this right now. Only, Peeta is smiling at her all funny. Like he really is happy to see her. “Hey, Peeta,” she says. “I’m Katniss. I--” “I know who you are,” Peeta says, softly. “Good to see you.” 

“You, too,” she says. “I gotta -- work. But, um.” She notices the crutches pressed up against the side of the booth and hates that they make her soften her tone, because she knows he can’t possibly want her pity. But she’s a little softer, anyway. “Yeah. Good to see you, too.” She doesn’t know what he wants from her, but he’s looking at her with this sparkle in his eyes. Like he wants her to keep talking. But she doesn’t have anything else to say, really. “So, you and Katniss went to school together?” Annie asks. “Yes,” Katniss is grateful for the assist. God knows she doesn’t actually have anything to talk to Peeta Mellark about. “Yeah, we were in school together. How do you know him?” A soft laugh from Peeta, here. Katniss twists her head to look back at him. “Annie’s my cousin?” the slight lilt in his voice betrays that he thinks she ought to have known this, which she kind of thinks is bullshit. Does he know who all of her cousins are? She doubts it. “Oh,” she says. “Well. Good for you.” Good for you? She winces at the words. What does that even mean? But Peeta just shoots her this easy grin, his hand cupped loosely around the glass of ginger ale. “I’m . . . gonna go,” she tilts her head back towards the bar. “Uh. Have a good night.” “Thanks.” Peeta’s smile doesn’t slip. “See you next Tuesday.” “Peeta!” Finnick’s voice is full of chastisement and Katniss turns to look at him, bewildered. What? It’s not like they’re not here every week. “Don’t call her that.”  A startled laugh bubbles out of her and when she steals a glance over at Peeta, she finds him absolutely beet red. “That’s -- I wasn’t . . . I just meant--” “See you next Tuesday, Peeta,” she interrupts, hoping not to examine the heat rising in her own cheeks as if in answer. . . . Katniss cradles the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she folds her laundry. Prim is only across town from her, but she works such odd hours at the hospital that they practically have to schedule their sister time. Like tonight. Katniss is getting ready for bed just as Prim is taking her lunch break. “So I had to, like, haul this air conditioning unit up the stairs because. You know. Buttercup is wearing fur. He’s gonna overheat if we can’t get the central fixed.” Katniss laughs. “I was gonna say you guys could just stay here until you get it fixed. But I already lived with that nightmare cat once. Never again.” Prim laughs softly. “Buttercup isn’t that bad,” she defends, but Katniss knows better. “Never again.” “Oh,” Prim says, her tone brightening. “I saw Finnick today.” Prim used to be completely obsessed with Finnick when she was a little girl and used to babysit his son. Just horrible, embarrassing crush. He was always so kind about it, which is part of why Katniss has always sort of figured he’s just Not That Bad, despite what he must want her to think, the way he’s always teasing. “Yeah?” Katniss asks. “Yeah,” Prim says. “I guess he and Annie take Peeta to all his appointments.” Katniss frowns. “Doesn’t he have parents?” “Do you really think Genevive Mellark is the kind of mom to take her kid to physical therapy?” Prim asks. “Genev-il Mellark?” she repeats, and it’s not that it’s funny, but the reminder of what they used to call the owner of the bakery when they were kids makes her breathe out a little laugh. “Okay, maybe not,” she agrees. “So, what’s like, his whole deal? Do you know?” “What do you mean?” “I mean, like.” She doesn’t actually know. She just thought Prim might have more information. “I don’t know.” Prim laughs softly. But then, because she’s a nurse and because she’s always been a horrible gossip, she launches into it. Peeta had really planned on never coming home. He was at college on an athletic scholarship, which he lost on account of not being able to wrestle anymore. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him,” Prim clarifies. “But I guess he’s. I don’t know. Kind of losing his mind.” “Losing his mind?” Katniss repeats carefully. “Just -- I guess he’s lonely,” Prim says. “His friends are all still busy with school.” “Oh.” For some reason, even after she and Prim have exchanged I love you, byes, she can’t stop thinking about Peeta Mellark. So much so that she looks him up on Facebook. Oh. He hasn’t updated the lives in New Haven, Connecticut on his profile. His cover photo is of him and a few other obviously young college kids all crammed into the frame together in front of a waterfall. He’s got his arms stretched wide, a girl on either side of him leaned up against his chest, and this absolutely triumphant grin. She clicks on it to read the caption before she can remind herself that this is weird. Oh. She guesses they hiked for hours to get there. In his profile picture, he’s got an arm slung over the back of the couch he’s sitting on, eyes bright and blond hair messy, falling down over his forehead in soft waves. He looks a little broader than he does now. It’s dated from about a year ago. Not that she’s any better. She hasn’t updated her profile picture since before the midterms. It’s not like she changes. Peeta has changed, though. He’s smaller now. Probably because he isn’t working out all the time to keep his wrestling scholarship. She hesitates for a long moment before she clicks on it, but she ends up sending him a friend request. It’s not weird. At least, not that weird. They did go to school together. He accepts it within a minute, which makes her feel weirdly regretful. Like she was offering him something she can’t really give. She stares at the green circle next to his name -- he’s online -- but she doesn’t message him. . . .    She watches on Thursday as he enters the bar, trailing in after Finnick and Annie. His crutches are gone, which almost makes her arch an eyebrow, but then she notices the cane in his hand, the way he’s leaning just a little on his right leg. Finnick reaches a hand out, as if to offer to help him into the booth, and Peeta waves him off. She pretends to stare down at the sani rag in her hands as he approaches. “Hey.” “Hey,” Katniss returns, looking up. She wants to look like she’s just now noticed him, but she knows she’s a bad actress. “You’re not making Finnick carry your drink over tonight?” Peeta laughs lightly. “There’s always round two,” he says. “No, I’ve actually never seen it up here.” He glances around and she tries to swallow back her irritation. Is he really trying to appraise the bar right now? “Dartboard,” he says. “Very nice.” “Well,” she says, and it comes out a little pinched. “We do our best.” Peeta laughs. “It shows.” He’s trying to be charming, she thinks. And it even almost works. But she doesn’t want it to. “So, what do you want?” she asks. “Assuming you’re not just here for the darts.” God. Why is his smile so bright? “I want something stiff,” he says with a little laugh. “But I’ll take a Coke.” “Designated driver?” she asks, half teasing, and regrets it immediately. Fuck. Of course he’s not. Thankfully, he laughs. “God, I wish.” He reaches up and runs his free hand through his hair. She uses the gun to fill a glass and slides it across the counter to him, working to ignore the slight tingle of her fingers when they brush. “Cool,” he says. “Uh. See you around?” “Yeah, sure,” Katniss says, and then she goes ahead and starts Finnick’s drink, because he’s predictable. “You added him on Facebook?” Finnick asks, and she whips her head around, feeling weirdly confronted. So what if she did? “I -- he came up in my suggested list,” she defends. “You’re the one who said I should be his friend.” Finnick grins. “I did, yeah,” he says. “I think it’s nice.” “Does he know you’re pimping him out so hard?” Katniss asks, earning a laugh. “He wouldn’t mind,” Finnick says.