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thesweetnessofspring · 2 years ago

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Kiss Cam

In honor of Katniss's birthday, here's an Everlark fic I've had bouncing around my head for a few weeks. Modern AU; fluff; rated G

“I don’t know if I want to go anymore,” Katniss says from the passenger seat of Peeta’s car. But they’re already a half mile from the stadium, stuck in the traffic with everyone else going to the game. She fiddles with the vent to blow the cool air directly into her face, something to calm her.

“Come on, these seats are right behind home base!” Peeta says.

“I know, but I can’t stand baseball anymore.”

“You shouldn’t let him take something you love from you.” Peeta waves a car through to merge into the narrowing lanes.

“It’s just a game.”

“Not just a game. The game,” Peeta says. “Consider this a bit of exposure therapy.”

“You promise to get me as many nachos as I want?” Katniss asks.

“And peanuts and cracker jacks.”

The Mockingjay’s stadium came into full view then, no longer blocked by surrounding buildings. Katniss hates that Gale has soured baseball for her, the game her father had introduced to her, the memories she has of catching a fly ball and getting it signed by Haymitch Abernathy, of summer nights spent in the yard perfecting her throw and her swing. And the only way she could cope after her father’s death was by giving her all on the field with her teammates.

That’s where she’d met Gale, on the varsity baseball team at Lakeside High School. She had been the only freshman to make the varsity team that year and he was one of two sophomores. Together, they became an unstoppable pitcher/catcher duo. Katniss knew Gale’s every move, could read his decisions like they were her own thoughts.

She thought it would always be like that.

“I talked them into putting on extra jalapenos.” Peeta hands Katniss her first round of nachos as she sits down following the national anthem.

Katniss takes the food from Peeta and dives in. There was nothing better in her mind than this–salty, creamy, spicy, with some crunch to top it off. She hums with approval at her first bite and smacks her lips to lick up the gooey cheese. When Katniss looks up to offer some to Peeta, she notices his eyes on her mouth��just briefly, but it sends a warm rush down her body.

She startles at the feeling and focuses instead on the players taking the field, getting a sense for the lineup. But Peeta reaches over to take a chip teetering with orange cheese and that flustering feeling comes back at the proximity, his shoulder bumping into hers.

Of course when he looked at her mouth, he was probably just noting how she was eating–he’d often teased her before about how ravenously she ate. That certainly made more sense than what had flitted across Katniss’s mind. Peeta was, after all…Peeta.

He moved into town their sophomore year of high school and immediately became popular. He played football, wrestling, and of course, baseball. This is where Katniss got to know him, an outfielder far away from where she was at home plate. Still, his arm was reliable in throwing the ball far, all the way to where she would catch the ball and get the out. She and Gale had already been dating for a year, but they’d never been that couple that excluded others. While Peeta socialized with anyone, he always prioritized the group Katniss had acquired (Gale, Darius, and Madge), and usually brought along the girl he was seeing at the time. None of them ever lasted too long.

Katniss had never been able to figure out why exactly Peeta had never been able to date anyone longer than two months. Sure, in high school that felt like forever, but when they moved onto college, it got stranger that of all the girls interested in Peeta, none of them seemed to stick around for longer than a couple months. So strange when Peeta had been the most loyal friend Katniss had ever had–or maybe she felt that way because while everyone else went away from their hometown for school, Peeta had stuck around just like Katniss, attending community college and then the local university.

That was the first big fight Katniss and Gale had gotten into. Gale received a scholarship to play baseball in a city four hours away. He wanted Katniss to come with him the next year, but she couldn’t leave her family. Her mom had to work overnights at the hospital and sleep during the day. She wasn’t going to leave Prim. Gale pointed out how he was leaving his family, too, and that they had to look at the future. The school he got the scholarship for was better than the small state school that didn’t boast any major sports teams. Better opportunities, better future. Katniss had stuck to her decision, though. She couldn’t leave Prim.

Long-distance had sucked, but Gale had seen her through some of the hardest years of her life and Katniss was never one to abandon someone she loved.

She should have just broken up with him then.

The Mockingjays versus the Mutts, their rival team. Katniss had to keep it together not to hiss when the first batter went up to the plate.

She wouldn't admit it to Peeta, but it was nice to get back into baseball again and she feels glad he pulled her out to the game today. Just watching it on TV hadn't been enough to remind her of how much she loved it. She needs the sun, the spring air, the cheers of the crowd and the kick of the nachos to bring back to life she'd once been so passionate about.

Then the first inning ends, and the jumbotron focuses in on a man and woman with a heart around them and in bold letters the instructions: GIVE YOUR SWEETHEART A KISS!

"Ugh," Katniss says when she sees it. "I hate kiss cams."

Peeta grins. "All right. Let's hear it."

"It's totally rude," Katniss says. "It puts people on the spot. Some people hate PDA. Some people are just friends, or they're siblings. And it's totally heteronormative! It pressures the kiss out of the people they feature and comes out of the blue so they're unprepared."

"Those are good points," he says. "After all, we're here together. And we're not dating."

"Exactly," Katniss says, though she wonders why her heart is squeezing in her chest so much hearing him say it.

"Though...we are both single," he says. The way he's talking, so measured and considering, makes her focus in on his words, connecting her gray eyes to his blue. "So if the kiss cam lands on us, you can kiss me if you feel like it."

She feels the blood rush to her cheeks and she doesn't know how to respond except to giggle, the thought of kissing him sending a strange flutter through her body.

"What?" Peeta asks. "That bad?"

"No," Katniss says. "No, I...I guess I'll allow it. On the cheek, of course."

"Of course," he says.

The next inning gets started and Katniss adjusts her hat to cover her face a bit more while her heart pounds in her chest. Why was the idea of kissing Peeta having such an effect on her? They were friends, had been friends for years. He'd been her best friend since the break-up eight months ago for sure. She shouldn't be having these feelings for him.

But as they talk and cheer for the Mockingjays, Katniss can't help but feel curious. She'd always thought Peeta was cute, even if she would never have admitted it out of loyalty to Gale. Plus there had been talk...she'd just been so confused about how Peeta, ever the kind, funny, warm, loyal man never kept a girlfriend for very long. Katniss had brought it up to her friend Johanna, wondering if maybe Peeta was actually gay.

"I guess I can't rule out bi," Johanna said. "But he's definitely into women."

"How are you so sure?" Katniss asked.

"Dude, we hooked up freshman year," Johanna said. "All I'm saying is, no gay guy is as into kissing a girl as Peeta Mellark."

"Was he...good?" Katniss asked. Being into and being good at were two separate things, after all.

"Really good," Johanna confirmed. "If he wasn't so goody-goody it would have been perfect."

Maybe that's all it is, Katniss thinks. Loneliness mixed with friendship and the burden of knowing that friend is apparently a really good kisser.

Between the fifth and sixth inning, Katniss gets up to go pee, hoping for the line to be short, but of course it's not. She takes her place and checks her phone, where a text from Prim comes in.

Having fun at the game?

Katniss types out a response: Yeah, only I think I might be into Peeta now?

The message is sent off with a swoop noise. That's when a woman coming from washing her hands stops and plants herself in front of Katniss.

"Hey, Katniss Everdeen!" she says. It's Clove Sanchez, someone Katniss had gone to school with, and was one of the girls Peeta had briefly dated.

"Oh, hi Clove," Katniss says. "How have you been?"

"Great!" Clove gives a smug smile. "My Instagram has hit a hundred thousand followers, and District Knives is sponsoring my content. Plus, I'm dating Cato Larsen."

Cato Larsen, the Mockingjay's starting shortstop. He looked like a caveman to Katniss, but Clove had always been the type of person to go for the best, which is why she'd sunk her claws into Peeta for a few weeks in high school.

"How about you?" Clove asks, and by the glint in her eye Katniss can tell she's trying to goad her.

"Good," Katniss replies briefly. "Yeah, things are good."

"I heard about you and Gale online." Clove pouts with fake sympathy. "So sorry about that."

"Well, it was for the best." Usually Katniss hates that kind of cliché phrasing, but dealing with people's comments about the end of her seven-year relationship warranted them. The only people she'd really shared her thoughts with about the situation had been Prim and Peeta. Other people like Madge and Darius warranted more details than others, since they were also friends with Gale, but it wasn't anyone else's business.

Finally a stall opens up and Katniss says, "Good catching up. I'm just going to–"

She points toward the toilet and escapes Clove. In the stall she takes a few deep breaths. Damn Gale.

They'd survived long-distance through college and Gale was getting scouted by the major leagues. The Mockingjays had made an offer, and Katniss had been ecstatic he could come back home. Then the offer from The Trappers came along, and they were a better team. The Mockingjays, admittedly, hadn't been good for the past fifteen years, so it was the better career move.

They were going to do one more year long-distance while Katniss finished up her bachelors degree. But something shifted then. Gale was the hot new rookie, pulling The Trappers from a middle-ranking team to battling for a spot in the championships. And college was very different from the pros.

Katniss, who had never been into social media much and kept everything private, had hundreds of requests to follow her from random people she didn't know. But they had figured out she was Gale's long-term girlfriend from his own posts and were curious. Worst were the comments on his pictures. Most were kind, but others seemed determined to drag her down. Criticizing how she looked, how they perceived her personality, claiming she wasn't hot enough for him, or only with him for the money. Katniss asked Gale to not post pictures of her anymore, which upset him.

"I'm trying to build my image," Gale said. "I'll get better brand deals if I have an angle to it, and part of that is you. You're my girlfriend. I want to be a solid example of a good family man, and you're part of that."

"Family man?" Katniss asked. They'd talked about kids in the far future, but they didn't have any plans soon. They hadn't even discussed marriage outside of a future, undetermined time.

"Yeah," Gale said, "After my dad left us, I had to look to other men to figure out who to be. I want to be that for other boys who might be like me."

"I hate the attention I'm getting, though," Katniss said. "I don't want to live a public life!"

"This is my career," Gale said. "It's part of the job."

They had never really been able to settle the argument. Gale didn't post pictures anymore without Katniss's permission, and occasionally she'd allow a story, but nothing permanent. Toward the end of Gale's first season, Katniss had flown out to see a game, but in his hotel room they ended with an argument about the same issue regarding social media and Gale's career. Then Gale proposed a compromise: they get married and have a baby.

"What?" Katniss asked. "How is that a compromise?"

"I'll be able to play up the dad angle and you can stay private," Gale said.

Katniss's mouth flew open. "I can't believe you want to have a baby to market yourself."

"We're going to have one anyway eventually!" Gale said.

"I don't want my kids all over Instagram where any creep can see them!"

They never recovered from that. Katniss went back home a single woman for the first time in seven years. Several pity parties with Prim and Peeta, a new job, and some time later, she felt steady enough.

Her phone pings with Prim's response: Well it's about time you realized how you felt about him.

Katniss types quickly: What do you mean by that????

It's not until Katniss is back in the stands with Peeta, who has gotten a fresh batch of nachos that Prim's response comes in.

Look, you've always had a soft spot for him. You've always said he was the greatest person to ever exist. Then when you and Gale broke up, it was like you didn't have to censor yourself. That "platonic cuddling" you were doing during winter when our heater didn't work sure didn't seem so platonic. You could have gone to his house where there was heat, after all. You give him really long hugs good-bye, you smile when his name is mentioned, you're constantly wondering why he hasn't dated anyone longer than a couple months. It's in your eyes most of all, when you think he isn't looking. Maybe I'm wrong and you're just really, really good friends, but it doesn't seem that way to me.

"Everything okay?" Peeta asks. Everyone else is on their feet and clapping at Phillip Gloss hitting a home run, while Katniss's eyes are fixed on Prim's text, trying to absorb it.

"Prim's having some boy trouble." She rolls her eyes. "Sent me a huge text about it."

"Well, good thing she has you to protect her." Peeta gives her one of his sweet smiles, with just a touch of shyness, that she's now realizing is only for her. She's never seen it on his face when greeting Prim or joking with Madge, or with any of the over dozen girls he's been with since she's known him.

Katniss puts her phone away and tries to focus on the game, but she can't with Peeta so near. Everything he does seems to draw attention to his mouth. Cupping his hands to his face so his shouts of encouragement can be heard, leaning in close to her ear to compete against the noise around them, sucking cheese off his thumb from the last of the nachos (okay, the last of his nachos–Katniss polishes those off).

Then during the seventh inning stretch, the person beside Katniss pushes against her shoulder and points to the jumbotron. There her own face stares up in confusion with Peeta's in a giant heart and those words GIVE YOUR SWEETHEART A KISS! above their heads.

Peeta shrugs with a lift of the corner of his mouth. He's prepared for a peck on the cheek, the main way to assuage the kiss cam operators to not continually embarrass those who try to refuse the attention. But some impulse comes over Katniss and she seals her lips over his. He jumps a little in surprise, but is quick to return the gesture, cradling her face with his hand and parting his lips to her. He tastes spicy and salty from the nachos, but underneath that, like an incredible delicacy. Katniss becomes so warm in her belly she's sure she swallowed a star and it's burning up in her body.

When they pull away, they're no longer on the jumbotron and a group of guys behind them whistle. Katniss shifts back into her seat, unable to look at Peeta. Oh, god. She just kissed her best friend.

Trying not to have to deal with the aftermath of this quite yet, Katniss takes out her phone and texts Prim:

Katniss: I kissed Peeta.

Prim: !!!!!

Katniss: It was for the kiss cam.

Katniss: But I liked it. A lot.

Katniss: What am I gonna do? He's my best friend. I can't lose him!

Gale had been her friend, before. Then he'd kissed her and she felt like she had to go along with it so she wouldn't lose him. And she had loved him before, had told herself that the love she had for him was good. It wouldn't be like when her mom lost her dad. Safe. That's what Gale had been.

Prim: I don't think you could ever lose him.

Then a different notification comes up on Katniss's phone. She'd been tagged in a story on Instagram. Curious, she opens the notification and saw that Clove had posted a video of the kiss cam footage to her story with the comment:

Guess @Katniss2008 is over @PitcherGale

Katniss watches in the story with horror, clicking back several times to watch the way she moves in so insistently, the way Peeta takes her up on this chance, and the eagerness both of them display kissing each other. Gale might not see this, he got tagged in so much now. But Clove, a player's girlfriend with over hundred thousand followers, had certainly assured that the whole baseball community would be talking about the kiss. This is exactly the kind of thing she'd wanted to get away from!

"Oh no," Peeta says. Katniss looks over and sees that he has the same story pulled up on his phone. He looks up at her, apology all over his face. "Should we go?"

Katniss nods her head and they gather up their things and trash to get out of that stadium. They walk briskly, mostly because Katniss has to get away from the crowds, to feel like she might have some kind of privacy in this stupid social media world.

The sky has turned orange and red with the sunset as they reach Peeta's car. Once inside, Peeta won't take the silence anymore.

"Katniss?" Peeta asks. "How are you?"

She chokes out an incredulous laugh. "I don't know! Angry, upset, embarrassed. I want to use one of those sponsored knives and cut her!"

"I'm sure you could explain to Gale," Peeta says. "If you're worried about him. About him thinking we..."

And he stops, blinking and turning away. And Katniss caught the a glimpse of the rarest emotion to cross Peeta's face–pain. He was always the first to help, the first to offer a smile or a kind word. Katniss wonders if what she's thinking is true, if Peeta has feelings for her, what it must have been like. Her and Gale together for so long, then her rants against ever dating again after what happened.

"I don't care what Gale thinks," Katniss says and meaning it. "I just hate that Clove put our personal business up for everyone to see."

"We did kiss in front of thousands of people," Peeta says. "But I get what you mean."

They sit in spent anger and simmering disappointment until Peeta says, "So, did this totally ruin any chance between us?"

"No," Katniss says. "Not for me, at least."

Peeta exhales a chuckle in relief. "Good. Because I've liked you forever."

"Forever?" Katniss asks, surprised. She'd thought it must have snuck up on him like it had for her.

"Since the first day I saw you," Peeta says. "Mrs. Trinket's history class. You looked really cool, with your leather jacket and long braid, and then Dylan Marvel threw an apple toward Rue Jackson and you reached out your hand and just caught it and threw it back at him, right on his head."

Her mouth hangs open. She vividly remembers this happening, but her memory hadn't clocked Peeta being there.

"That was the first day of sophomore year," Katniss says. "You've liked me all this time?"

"Yeah." That shy, sheepish look is back. "But you were always with Gale and it seemed pretty set. I tried to date other girls, but it didn't feel fair to date them when I still had feelings for you, so none of them really stuck."

I'm the reason he's dated so many girls, Katniss realizes. Not commitment issues or because he was closeted. Because of how he felt about her.

"But these past eight months?" Katniss asks. "Ever since Gale and I broke up?"

"You needed time, and you needed a friend," Peeta says, brushing hair out of her face. "I figured, if it was going to happen, it would happen when you were ready."

He's perfect, Katniss thinks. And then she's leaning over the car console and he's following and they're kissing, finally, finally just for themselves. And she knows it's only the second kiss of many, many more to come.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #thg fanfiction #modern au #fluff

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mollywog · 1 year ago

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Not new, but Since we’re talking Everlark in Different Districts…

Read on Ao3

He’d been 5 the first time he’d heard it. They were in one of the fenced yards District 13 used for aboveground recreational time. He'd been holding his father’s hand, watching his brothers wrestle when the first bird had flown over. It wasn’t the usual chirps and chittering, but high and clear notes intoning an unmistakable melody.

The next bird that passed echoed the song but in a slight variation, taking up the harmony.

His father’s grip tightened as he inhaled sharply. His brothers stopped their tussling and craned their necks to see the source of the sound. Even his mother, though her mouth pinched in a frown, stared up at the sky. Peeta scanned the faces of the crowd: Everyone frozen as if under a trance, the entire yard falling silent as the flock of mockingjays passed.

The mountains reverberated a final somber echo and the spell was broken.

This wasn’t the first nor the last time this anomaly occurred.

The District’s official position was simple: a genetic defect in a Mockingjay allowing it to remember a single song and repeat it back at random, inspiring a whole flock's tune: a mutation.

They had all seen the maps. The closest district was hundreds of miles away: the mockingjays would have grown tired or forgetful of even their favorite melody on their journey and the space in between the districts was harsh and uninhabitable. Where else could the song originate? The District knew best and the citizens knew not to question, so the official opinion was adopted, but that didn’t stop the stories.

Everyone had a tale of fortune or sorrow connected to the tune. That very night, his father had spoken of a girl he had known: her disappearance on a rare day when the music had returned. For his father, the melody forever inexplicably linked to the lost girl.

Some swore it predicted a good gather, a fortuitous hunt, or clear skies. The older children whispered terrifying tales to the younger: a rite of passage before their time in the woods. With two older brothers, Peeta had heard them all.

By the age of 12 a rotating job assignment were added to their daily schedules. If in any other district a twelfth birthday meant a slip in the bowl for the annual reaping, 12 was old enough to contribute to the workforce in District 13. Peeta along with the other 12 year olds had spent weeks in training, preparing them for their shifts: in the kitchens, in the woods, in the laundry room.

Over the years, the leaders of the district had established hatcheries, green houses, and herds of animals all underground, but of course not everything thrived there, so they sent gathering parties and hunters to collect what they couldn’t support. He had been paired with his brother, but when in the woods Matti felt his time best spent in pursuit of the girl he admired: Too perturbed by their father’s tale to let her out of his sight above ground. Peeta didn’t mind: his fascination with the woods far exceeding his fear.

He was alone and lost in wonderment over the alternating patterns of light and dark that the sunlight falling through the leaves cast when he realized the woods were eerily silent; void of even the usual chirps, until he heard the faint echo of a song. Not any song but the Mockinjay’s song. It had been months since anyone had mentioned the birds or their melody.

His feet moved of their own accord. He wasn’t thinking straight enough to be scared as he approached the direction of the crescendoing sound. He crested the hill and that’s when he saw her.

She stood by the lake in the valley bellow, face towards the sky, eyes pinched shut as she sang the song the mockingjays mimicked. The sun at her back casting a glowing orb around her, wild strand’s escaping her single dark braid. He could almost believe he was dreaming; but his dreams were never this pleasant and so full of light.

Shifting his weight, a branch splintered under his foot.

The birds registered the sound first, letting out a bellow, wings in a frenzy of feathers, as they took flight. It was another moment before the chaos cleared and he could again see the girl. Frozen, eyes wide, she resembled the frightened rabbits he stumbled upon: terrified, trapped.

He opened his mouth to speak, not having the faintest idea what he would say, when she turned and ran; a flash of yellow released from her grasp as she took flight like the birds that now echoed her song. Disappearing into the woods, out of sight, seemingly forever.

The melody had disappeared with the birds and the sun slipped behind a cloud throwing the landscape into a dulled affect after just being so clearly golden. He cautiously approached the spot where she had stood. Reaching down he picked up the yellow flower the apparition had dropped. He held it delicately: a taraxacum officinale, the only tangible proof of what he had witnessed.

He pressed the remnants of the flower between his pocket field guide, taking one final look at the empty forest, before turning away, back towards home.

🩶🩶🩶

“Does anyone live in the woods?” All week he’d gathered his courage to ask the question.

“Of course not! What kind of fool are you? Have you not been paying attention in school?” His mother’s words came quickly with a bitter edge.

“Yes mam” he mumbled and dropped his eyes back to his book.

“Nothing can survive out there. The weather, the wild animals, the Capital hovercrafts, no government to provide: Imagine! A worse fate than the games, that’s what it’d be!” And with that the conversation was over.

Parents told stories, cautionary tales, some even incorporated the mockingjays song: Beautiful Capitol mutts, who lured children too far into the woods, devouring them whole. As they grew older the threats became more tangible: breaking a limb as you fumbled over uneven terrain, drowning in streams, real animals hunting for prey: dogs, and bores, and bears,

He knew it wasn’t impossible to survive out there. Refugees sometimes arrived from other districts. Brave souls that made the trek through the Wilds: Dalton from 10, a couple from 5, a handful from 11. He had waited for the day an announcement would be made of new refugees, but none came.

He hadn’t told a single person about the girl: he was meant to report any unusual occurrences to the guards at the end of his shift. He wasn’t completely sure she was human but whatever she was, was too precious to share.

He hadn’t heard the song since that day nor heard reports of it either. Still, he traveled to the valley with the lake every chance he could; it was just as he remembered it, but he had yet to see the girl again. He collected the items required of him, while pacing the water’s edge, searching for signs of the girl or her song. He’d almost convinced himself the whole thing was a daydream, until he opened his pocket guide once more to caress the faded yellow remnant; the only proof he had that she truly existed.

Each time before he returned home, he collected a fistful of yellow flowers to leave on the spot she had stood, a paltry offering to his mythical songbird. The tribute missing each time he returned - lost to weather, or animal, or simply time.

Several months after the occurrence, he still made his treks to the lake. Though plentiful in haul, his valley visit had begun to leave him feeling empty and alone.

It was a particularly hot day when he came across a bush of berries he hadn’t noticed before. Picking one, he rolled it between his fingers, lifting them towards his nose to sniff.

“Drop it”

Startled, he instinctively dropped the berry, swinging his head towards the voice.

There she stood several feet away, half hidden by the shadows of the woods: arms crossed, scowling, annoyed - but very real.

He raised his empty hand, unsure of his intent: a demonstration of compliance or a greeting

“That’s nightlock.”

He stared dumbly.

She shifted her scowl away from him to the bush, “You’d be dead before they reach your stomach.”

He dropped his hand wiping it on the cloth of his pants, removing the memory of the berry from his fingers.

She remained rigid, half hidden in the shadows of the woods.

“You’re real.” He finally whispered. Perhaps the dumbest thing he could have said.

She rolled her eyes “of course I’m real. Though I can’t believe you still are!” She scoffed “Not knowing about Nightlock.” She mumbled under her breath.

“I wasn’t gonna eat it.” His temper momentarily flaring before he dropped his head in embarrassment. He had been traveling to the lake week after week to get a glimpse of this specter and now he was liable to run her off.

He peered up at her through the too-long waves that fell in his face “Is that what it’s called? This is my first summer on gathering duty. I’d never seen it before.” He reached for his pocket, but stopped when he noticed the girl position her weapon? He was used to the sleek metallic guns of 13, not this delicate wood and string contraption.

“Sorry,” He raised his hands. “I wanted to show you something… it’s in my pocket.”

She lowered her bow enough to encourage him to proceed. He pulled out his pocket field guide, holding it out for her inspection. She hesitated before flitting towards him, plucking the book from his grasp, retreating a few steps out of reach. She frowned as she leafed through the pages.

Unobscured by the foliage, he took the opportunity to commit every detail of her to his memory. He estimated her to be about his age. She was tiny, though slightly taller than him: That wasn’t much of a feat, most the girls his age were. Her skin was olive, darker than most from his district, likely in part due to the summer sun. Her raven black hair was tied back in a long single braid.

But her eyes! Her eyes were the most beguiling shade of gray. His life in District 13 was full of grays: his clothes, his compartment, even the food somehow took on the hue. Color was purposeful: to distinguish rank, to identify routes, to call attention when necessary. He was sure he had encountered every shade of black mixed with white, but he was mistaken.

Peeta tried to imagine her face with a smile: he’d seen her frown and scowl, but imagined the way her mouth would upturn and eyes dance with the motion.

“There aren’t any colors”

He snapped back to present “The colors are listed” he furrowed his brow “can’t you read?”

She scowled, holding the book out to him abruptly “Of course I can, I just don’t know how you’re supposed to tell nightlock from an elderberry based on that. Or excuse me, a conium maculatum from a sambucus nigra.” She lifted her chin as she rattled off the names from his book with an air of superiority. “You really use those long names?”

He shrugged. He'd never pondered the printed titles.

She didn’t wait for a response as she began plucking berries from the bush, a perplexing move to the boy. “I won’t do it again. You don’t have to get rid of them on my account.”

“I’m not.”

He waited expectantly. But she didn’t speak, pulling a deer skin sack from her belt and filling it, before securing the parcel to her belt. She looked up at him, annoyance evident, “They’re useful, just not for food.”

“Oh.” the book contained no reference to use, simply: name, diagram, and physical description. Gatherers were under strict orders not to eat from their hoards; they were told what to collect, not why. He knew some things served purposes beyond food: dyes, medicines, polymers. He just didn’t know which ones were which.

“Are you the one that keeps leaving the dandelions.” He forrowed his brow in confusion. “The taraxacum officinale”

“Oh, yeah. I wanted to let you know I was here.”

“Didn’t need the flowers to know you’d been here.” She motioned in the direction he had come. “You’re very heavy footed. If I had thought you were an animal, I could have easily tracked you back to your den”

“I’m a gatherer, not a hunter, I don’t need to worry about scaring off the plants.”

Her lips twitched, an attempt to contain a smile and she turned her head away from him to school her features. She turned back abruptly “you didn’t tell anyone about me or the lake, right?”

He shook his head vigorously, blonde waves bouncing. “I don’t think anyone else knows about this place. I only came here because I had wondered too far and then heard your song.”

She didn’t look wholly convinced but didn’t argue the matter either. She turned to busy herself in her gathering.

He looked back towards 13, his time quickly coming to an end. “I have to go” she didn’t acknowledge him. “I can leave you alone” still no response “you can call me if you want. If I’m on duty and I hear your song, I’ll know to come.”

She looked up at him, sharp eyes narrowed, “So now I can’t even sing for fear of you coming?”

He took a step back, stricken by her words “nevermind”

She must have detected the hurt in his eyes; Her features softened and she turned her head back to her work.

He pivoted towards District 13, a heaviness enveloping his limbs.

“Fine.”

He snapped his head back in the direction of the voice.

“I don’t really sing anymore anyways, but if you hear the song you can come.”

He nodded dumbly, dashing away quickly, before she could change her mind.

🩶🩶🩶

It wasn’t until his journey back that he began recounting the meeting and realizing how little he knew of this girl. He hadn’t even gotten her name, let alone where she had come from, who she was with, why she was there. The questions formed a queue in his mind. He kept his word and stayed away. He knew she was real and she knew the same of him as well as how to summon him.

So he waited. It was nearly a month before he heard the song. His heart soaring as he crashed through the greenery to the lake.

She did not look surprised by his presence: She shouldn’t have been - She lured him in after all and he couldn’t resist the grin that crept across his face. She eyed him wearily as he approached and he made sure to stop with plenty of space between them.

“Your book. Can I see it?” She extended her hand.

He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but receiving no further explanation, pulled it from his bag, tossing it to the girl.

Her scowl deepened as she thumbed through the pages reviewing a select few before leafing further in the book, closing it abruptly and handing it back.

She didn’t elaborate nor did he inquire, losing the nerve to ask his questions. She wandered a bit as he wordlessly followed, finally finding a patch of white flowers with sunny yellow centers. She didn’t protest when he knelt beside her to gather them with her.

It was another month before her song and his work assignment collided once more. She again requested the book: Wrinkling her nose in annoyance as she read. Finally exclaiming, “This book is useless.”

He smiled at the outburst “I guess that depends on what the use is. I’ve already learned the plants. It’s just for reference if I forget.”

“So you can identify them, big deal. You don’t know anything about them or what they do.”

He shrugged, “don’t need to. There are people at home that do.”

“You’re not even interested?”

“We’re all doing our part, no matter how small, working together to contribute to the District’s brighter future” at least that’s what they taught them in school.

He had never thought to question it until one day when Peeta had been in the kitchen. One of the large mixers had toppled to the ground, a panel had come open and parts sprang and spilled to the floor. He had watched the mechanic reassemble the machine, collect and inspect all the parts and meticulously rebuild. A few pieces were damaged, but the mechanic didn’t bat an eye, exchanging the deformed parts for new. The old parts would be melted down and made into something useful.

Peeta had been melancholy the whole weekend. It wasn’t until class on Monday morning as they recited the pledge that he realized he was an expendable piece in well oiled machine: important but replaceable.

She rolled her eyes, “And this is your contribution?”

“For now” he said simply. There were all kinds of jobs in District 13, all balanced to support the community. His oldest brother, Solly, looked forward to his upcoming testing and placement. His father baked and his mother was a mid-ranking Commander.

“We used to have one,” she held up the book. “But it was more detailed: with colors and uses. My parents added handwritten notes in the margins. I thought if I could see the pictures again…it might remind me.” Her words trailed off. She looked into the distance away from him, throat bobbing, before turning back towards him, voice again under control, “Why wouldn’t they want you to know their use? What if you were stuck out here? Wouldn’t they want you to survive?”

He’d puzzled over the book that night. He’d never thought about it much before. Most things in 13 were straight forward, no-nonsense, portioned and precise, black and white. The book was no different. If his job was to collect specimens, this book aided him.

He was reminded again of the mixer. All the pieces working together towards a common goal, though they didn’t know what the other pieces did… although they didn’t know anything because they were just bits of metal.

After that she began to call for him more regularly, though she had dropped the pretense of viewing the book all together.

At home he’d often been told he was charming. His charisma however, seemed to have very little effect on the girl at the lake. His conversation was met with scowls rather than smiles. She was fiercely private; it wasn’t until the fifth visit that she reluctantly gifted him her name: Katniss.

They didn’t speak of home: her because she was still weary and him because she was his escape.

He couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped the first time he made her grin and the first time he heard her laugh he felt dizzy at the sound. Her song was mythical but her laughter was magic.

🩶🩶🩶

Everything in the district was made and maintained with military accuracy. The temperature, water consumption, nutrient intake, all perfectly calculated and dispatched for plant, animal, and human alike.

His schedule contained shifts in the kitchen where his father worked making the bread. Baking no exception, the recipe precise, no room for variation, the yield uniform: Not baked for flavor but substance.

At the lake she gathered and fished, hauling a heavy load home, wherever home was, in her bag and on her back. He marveled at the variation in her catches: different shapes, colors, sizes.

It was pure luck that his thirteenth birthday landed on a gathering day and that the mockingjays happened to sing. Birthdays had little significance in th District: his name listed on the screen in the dining hall in tiny print, an extra tight hug from his father, and added responsibilities.

When he mentioned the day's significance to Katniss she frowned at the lack of acknowledgement. She asked his favorite meal and when he described the grayish fish and okra stew that ‘wasn’t half bad when warm’, she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Then taught him to harvest Katniss roots, to fish, prepare and cook their catches on an open fire. Adding fresh Rosemary and wild scallions that stung his tongue with flavor and clung to his taste buds all day that he could revel in the memory.

She laughed as he described bite after bite in vivid detail, enthralled with each new flavor. Eating in the wild gave him a new appreciation for taste. She listened to him as he filled the smokey air with the recipes he could enhance, the bread that he could make with the wild spices.

The fish from the district were born, bred, and died in underground hatcheries, just large enough for them to fulfill these duties. Peeta had always been thankful for the food District 13 provided; in much of Panem children and adults went hungry or starved. He’d been hungry before, even craved but never feared the feelings. After his sunlight meal at the lake, he imagined he could taste the Distinct fish's despondency. The echo of flavors haunting his taste buds

After that she began to introduce him to forest delicacies: mushrooms, edible barks and leaves, wild berries, strips of dried meat she had saved him. He savored each bite, licking his fingers, delighting in every new flavor as she watched on with amusement. They added notes to the margin of his field book on taste descriptions, placing symbols next to favorites.

Working in the kitchen gave him access to the food waste. He began sneaking seeds from the compost pile, squirreling them away until he returned to the lake. Taking only things discarded: shriveled peas, okra and pumpkin seeds, squash remains, a half rotten tomato, a slice of a sprouted potato. They planted them together, the seeds quickly sprouting, stems with leaves reaching greedily for the sun. Their garden blossomed like their friendship, though the latter at a much slower pace.

One day she mentioned a sister, the next time a hunting partner, a neighbor’s baby she tended: brief fleeting words that began escaping unbidden, but she slowly allowed to flow freely.

🩶🩶🩶

At fourteen his teacher caught him doodling during lessons. She’d ripped the page from his pad, and he spent the remainder of class imagining the punishment the District, or worse still, his mother, would inflict for his idleness. Instead the teacher submitted his sketches to the resource department and his work assignments shifted so his newly identified artistic skills could be put to use. He was tasked with drawing diagrams: technical sketches for soldiers and hovercraft pilots. Black and white renderings of control panels. No room for imagination or colors unless strictly necessary.

This addition to his work schedule had him on outdoor duty inconsistently. When he finally heard their song Katniss had looked both relieved and annoyed to see him. She had scowled as he complained of the dullness of his new job, but the next time they met, she brought dried berries and pressed flowers in all colors. Crushing them between rocks, they made powders mixed with water and goose grease to create inks. They sharpened mockingjay feathers to points to make quills. She doodled patterns of repeating shapes while he mixed colors, painting fleeting images on rocks and trees, that faded slowly between visits.

Katniss was more disappointed by the loss of their pictures than he was until she suggested they shade the loathsome field guide. Visit after visit they searched the ground for colors to match and mix for each page, digging iron rich clay, mixing soot from past fires. He detailed and shaded while Katniss looked on, adding notes and providing names: chamomile for inflammation and sadness, wild carrots were edible but easily confused for deadly Hemlock.

When they worked on the page labeled oenothera she gave him the common name: Primrose. Her eyes shifted from the page to covertly glance at him as she added, “my sister’s named after these.”

He bit the inside of his cheek until he could contain the smile that threatened to overtake his face at the admission. He couldn’t imagine a sweeter gift than her trust.

Little by little she shared more: now calling her sister by name, she spoke of her often, along with a cat and goat, sometimes a mother, but rarely a father. Talk of her sister brought her joy, but her parents a sadness he couldn’t work up the courage to ask about. He told her about his brothers, about his father, rarely speaking of his mother. He didn’t think she avoided talk of her father for the same reason he avoided his mother.

🩶🩶🩶

At fifteen the District began strenuous workouts to gauge physical aptitude. His mother had shaved his head in a bid to demonstrate his eagerness to serve. As a Deputy-Commander herself, it was good optics to have children ready to take up the cause regardless of how unlikely the odds. Peeta had mourned the loss of his youth as the yellow waves fluttered to the ground. He wasn’t the only one; he was amused by the scowls Katniss directed at his head for months after the change.

But it had its perks. He no longer needed to fear explaining a head of wet waves. So he gladly accented when Katniss decided time had come to teach him to swim on a day when he bemoaned the pains from his long awaited growth spurt. The cool water, she reasoned, would soothe his aching body.

It was daunting at first; the water was foreign and freezing. It didn’t help that they were half naked and painfully aware of their own hormone riddled bodies. She had made him turn as she stripped to her undershirt, wading until only her head was visible above the water. She kept her distance as she barked commands that he couldn’t quite grasp. Their frustrations mounting until the lesson devolved into bickering, then splashing, then laughter. Lessons abandoned, they stumbled from the lake feeling happily refreshed.

The next time they met she came armed with a thermos of birch bark tea for his soreness and a less ambitious objective to teach him to float. She had him lay on his back, tethering him in place by small calloused hands at his lower back and neck. Her touches were purposeful and fleeting but they sparked an ache in his chest that distracted him from the ache in his bones.

They climbed from the lake, averting their eyes from the shirts and shorts that clung to their bodies. Then sunbathed like lizards on warm rocks, staring up at the sky, naming shapes in the clouds, listening to the rustle of the leaves as the branches overhead cast shadows until they were forced to pry themselves from the ground, redressing and returning each to their separate homes.

🩶🩶🩶

At sixteen his brother Matti turned 18. His viability confirmed and his preferred match approved, he took his permanent place in the kitchen with their father and eldest brother. He walked taller in his new distinction as adult, baker, and ‘breeder’ and the brothers, once childhood companions, drifted further apart; his wife and ‘duties’ taking precedence and Peeta only a little brother who could no longer relate to his more mature endeavors.

Fraternizing was not forbidden, however coupling was strictly forbidden before adulthood. The District couldn’t risk the complications associated with a high risk young mother and wouldn’t risk birth control sterilizing an otherwise healthy female. Every viable womb mattered to the growth of the District and the doctors determined 18 years was the earliest a woman could safely support life.

He had kissed a few girls, but the memory filled him with guilt rather than pride. It had been pleasant in the moment, but left him thinking of another girl. Imagining how her lips would feel against his, her petite body cradled in his arms, hands in his hair.

He’d gone to the lake unbidden that day in hopes of clearing his head of the estrangement at home. Being underground he was often unaware of the shifts in weather. The air smelled of rain, the ground was spongy, leaves and branches littering the ground as he made his way to the valley. Not expecting to find her there, he was surprised to see a massive charred tree had fallen victim to the evident storm with a weeping Katniss on top of it. They’d rarely touched, but he didn’t hesitate in gathering her in his arms. She clung to him sobbing.

When her tears subsided She rested her head on his shoulder, Her fist gripped tightly to his jumpsuit, dazedly staring off towards the lake as the words poured out. She spoke of her father: How he taught her to hunt and to swim and to sing. How he had died shortly before she and Peeta had met. How her mother’s spirit had died with him. How she had to begin providing for her family alone early on. How the lake was his place, their place - she and her father’s. She knew it wouldn’t go on being the same forever, but each season it had changed in such a small degree that it would still remain the same in her mind. But the fallen tree had forced her to come to terms with the change, with the loss.

Once she’d recovered, they sprung into action. She picked wildflowers as he mixed hues. She taught him to weave flowers so they could adorned the tree with flower garlands and painted designs - a makeshift memorial. They had a funeral of sorts for the tree and by unspoken extension her father; hands clasped in shared sorrow.

He’d left thinking of spirits and souls - The district taught of the body and mind, but the soul, at least as Katniss described it, was something intangible; The heart and the mind combined, but not just as organs, but ideas, feelings, beliefs! It was a concept he cherished. One which he kept safely to himself like the girl who had introduced it to him.

The event seemed to overcome the final restraints on conversation, they spoke freely of their homes and families.

She shared her history: The colony living in the wilderness outside the reach of Capital rule or District restrictions. How their great grandparents' generation had fled District 12 when the first rebellion was all but lost. How they traveled north until they were far enough away finding habitable ground to establish themselves.

In exchange he told her of 13: how children were as good as currency: healthy girls - the most valuable. Not everyone could have children so those that could weren’t given a choice: they were tested and matched or a mutual preference reviewed and approved at age 18. Pairs were directed to do their duty for the greater good of the District. In exchange they were given preferential treatment. His parents were matched based on genetics not personality and had produced three sons in quick succession: Peeta’s birth had been difficult, ending his mother’s chance at producing a daughter. His birth came with her final promotion, Deputy-Commander, a bitter victory as she became convinced had Peeta been a daughter, she would have been made a full Commander, been invited into Command as well as Coin’s confidences. He was a constant reminder of her stalled career.

Her grip tightened around their linked hands. Since their funeral for the tree, they had become more liberal with touches. Not in the ways his brothers talked about touching their wives, but in comforting gestures they were rarely untethered; they’d lay in the grass holding hands or wither head on his chest. No matter how innocent the actions, her touch set his skin ablaze, the lost connection leaving him starved in a way that had nothing to do with his food.

🩶🩶🩶

His seventeenth birthday came and went with little fanfare. While his classmates made predictions and plans for their future, his final year of school was filled him with dread. The months ahead filled with testing: for occupation, status, and compatibility. A few girls and even one of the District 13 widows had propositioned him to submit a match request with them; all which he’d solemnly denied.

Whispers of a second rebellion grew louder every day. They were all required to watch the Games, to remember the Capital’s cruelty. If he were destined to be a soldier in the fight against injustice he could bear his fate, but it would not be his future if he was deemed viable (and there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t be deemed viable). All the men in his family before him had been: brothers, uncles, cousins. All had paired and all so far fruitful.

He’d be a baker or a diagram illustrator and a husband and make some woman as miserable as his mother. Not on purpose of course, but because his soul surely couldn’t survive trapped underground without Katniss and their lake. Without the array of colors and the sunshine grown fish. Without the cool water of the lake and the feel of her hand in his. Without her song!

These thoughts left him feeling like wretched. He could barely eat or sleep; maybe his bodily neglect would make him unfit.

He continued his treks to the lake, even without the Mockingjay’s song to bid him. Just being close to where she had been and would be was a comfort. He put on an unaffected air on the days she was there, but she knew him too well, could sense the shift. She placed her cool hand on his forehead then his cheeks, inspecting his exposed skin for a physical cause for his malaise.

He couldn’t burden her with his fears; wouldn’t sacrifice a single moment of fleeting joy with her to the stifling images of the future, so he begged off with tales of nightmares. These weren’t complete fabrications, for when he did sleep he dreamed in gray monotony.

Their next rendezvous she brought a small cloth sack filled with lavender, catnip, and rosemary, made small enough to be sneaked past Distinct customs. She had him lay in the grass with the parcel close, his head in her lap. The scent, the breeze, and her nimble fingers rubbing circles in his velvety hair lulled him to sleep.

His reprieve was short lived. He soon received his packet confirming his viable designation with schedules, rules, and instructions.

🩶🩶🩶

His gathering day aligned with her birthday and promised himself this would be his last trip to the lake when he heard their song. One final golden day before he wished it all farewell.

He emerged from the woods, her smiling as she spied him, his worries momentarily vanishing as he jogged down to meet her. She seemed happier, lighter, today and for a moment he let himself imagine spending every possible minute of the rest of my life with her.

He laughed “I’ve never seen you so happy to see me”

She rolled her eyes but her smile didn’t falter as she opened her bag to share her elation: goat cheese. A gift from her sister. She had said it was her favorite, but he’d only tried it once.

Katniss set the lines while Peeta gathered: chives, Dandelions, violets, keeping her in sight all the while, dreading the moment he’d have to let her go for good.

Once the fish were placed on the fire, they stripped their clothes. Floating and swimming in their underclothes, laughing and talking of trivial things. Eventually crawling from the lake to lie in the grass and pick at their feast. She placed her head in his lap as he teased out the knots in her hair while she fed him bits of fish and cheese.

“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,” He felt so warm and relaxed and beyond worrying about the future that the words slipped out.

She smiled up at him from her place on his lap. “We can do this again, you know? Next time.”

He hummed. A lump formed in his throat and he averted his gaze, unable to look at her knowing it would all spill out if he looked at her now. His eyes fell on the nightlock bush, the place of their first interaction. Where he discovered she was real.

He felt her hands on his face. She’d extracted herself from his lap and was kneeling across from him, forcing his head in her direction. He closed his eyes in a last defense until she spoke his name and he could no longer deny her.

At her pained expression it all tumbling out: the tests, the impending pairing, the placement, the end to his outdoor duties.

She was up and pacing, biting the nail of her thumb, listening intently. She paused her movement when he finished, “And that’s it! You weren’t going to tell me? You were going to leave here today and never come back? Leave me to wonder what happened to you? Never knowing if you were dead or if you hated me? Or if you’d found some other girl, some other lake?” Her eyes brimming with tears.

He sat stupefied, his legs pulled tightly to his chest. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. Or maybe he’d thought she meant more to him than he did to her: That she would move on quickly, never looking back to the friend of her youth. Maybe he had wanted to save her the pain, or maybe save himself? Maybe his plan was selfish, not selfless.

He stood, “that’s the problem: there could never be another valley, another lake, another song, another girl. You have Prim, your mother, the Hawthornes. I’m the one losing something. I’m losing the little freedom and choice I have, going on to take my place as a piece in the great District 13 machine, fulfilling my empty destiny. In a place that needs my body and mind, but cares nothing for my soul. That doesn’t want nor need it. No one does.” He paused breathing heavily. “I was blind and content before I met you. I didn’t need a soul to survive but now that I know, I can’t go back. Can't go back to the bliss of ignorance, back to the District to inflict my misery on someone else for the rest of my flavorless gray life. I’d be better off dead.” He stared at the nightlock bush longingly, only a half baked idea he could never follow through on.

“I do, Peeta.” It was spoken so softly he thought he’d imagined it. “I need you, all of you; Your soul most of all.” She paused before whispering “Stay with me”

Certain he had misheard her, but seeing that she required a response he croaked out, “What?”

She grasped onto his hand pulling him down to face her, shaking her head as she spoke, “don’t go back. Come with me. You could choose your life, retain your soul. You could paint in color or bake the recipes you used to talk about. You could grow your hair long and sleep in the breeze. There are so many things still for you to experience: sunsets, fireflies, the moon. You just have to stay with me.” She’s pleading. No longer attempting to hide her tears, her eyes darting across his face, searching his face for a hint at his decision, not realizing he has always been hers.

“Always.” The word escaped along with the breath he’d be holding, “Yes.” He began nodding, “Anything. Yeah. I’ll do it” The words come crashing out in a confusing jumble of syllables, but she seemed to understand them as she let out a choked laugh. Then he laughed and she began in earnest, pressing her forehead to his as he cupped her face in his hands, swiping away fresh tears, lips quickly meeting between relieved laughter. Too giddy and high on their mirth to feel bashful about the thin damp fabric separating their embrace or the gravity of their decision.

After a while, recollected themselves, they gathered their things, heading in the direction of her home, their home, hand in hand. But only after executing one small request: A song for the birds, a final farewell and a continuation of the lore.

To District 13 it would be the song of a boy lost to the woods. But for Peeta, it would be the song of his homecoming.

#sliding my own fic across the table #district 13!Peeta #colony in the wild!Katniss #districts apart #TWHHA #TWHHA summer 23 #everlark fanfiction #it could probably use a review and edit #but I quite like it #fairytale vibes #shameless self promotion #self promotion Saturday

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ao3feed-everlark · 2 years ago

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She Didn’t Mind The Shoes

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/wZQrFVm

by MegaAuLover

It's Prim's 21st Birthday and Katniss is going to spend it with her sister celebrating it in style with mile-high shoes. However, the celebration goes awry when she's trapped in an elevator with a handsome blonde stranger and those shoes that she can barely walk in...

Words: 4090, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Katniss Everdeen, Primrose Everdeen, Delly Cartwright, Peeta Mellark

Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark, everlark - Relationship

Additional Tags: Romance, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Fluff, Flirting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Childhood Memories, Childhood Friends, Crush, Peeta is Gorgeous

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/wZQrFVm

#everlark #everlark fic #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #thg #ao3feed

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lemonluvgirl · 3 years ago

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In the Clouds

An Everlark Birthday fic for Sparkling Stella

I wrote this fic for the wonderful, funny, amazing, and talented @the-sparkling-way !!! It’s her birthday today so don’t forget to send her well wishes! Hope you like it my friend! And a special thanks goes out to @pookieh for helping me with the Canadian phrases and slang. LOL you helped me so much! And also to @jhsgf82 for helping me beta read and giving me feedback! Part 2, with smut, coming soon!

“Get your head outta the clouds boy,” Captain Abernathy barked at Co-Captain Peeta Mellark.

Peeta grunted in annoyance and looked away from the retreating form of the beautiful woman who had just come in to let them know they were ready for take off.

“Sorry, Captain,” Peeta replied, fighting a flush at being caught staring at one of the flight attendants.

She was the newest stewardess to start with Panem Airlines in recent weeks, and her name was Katniss.

“Don’t be such a keener, Mellark,” Haymitch said as he barked out a laugh at his younger co-captain’s expense. “You should make your move, kid. Those American girls are less aggressive than our women. A lot of them wait for the man to initiate things. And you’ve been drooling over that bittie like a puppy eyeing a box of Timbits for weeks now,” Captain Abernathy said.

Peeta scoffed, but didn’t reply. He disliked that his crush on Katniss was being compared to a dog eyeing a box of donuts.

Even if it was slightly accurate.

He had noticed Katniss right away when she started working at Panem Air because she was very pretty, exotic-looking even. Being Canadian, from Toronto, he had grown up around a mix of different people from different places. He had always had a penchant for olive skin and dark hair. But so far none of the women he’d tried dating had left any kind of lasting impression.

Unlike his new coworker.

One thing he never knew about himself until he met Katniss was just how affected he was by steely gray eyes, or long dark hair braided into a thick plait. She hardly even wore makeup. But he’d never met a girl so understatedly beautiful.

He also noticed other things about her. Like how she was quiet, hard-working, and not one of the pilot-chasers. A good portion of stewardesses and pilots were known to carry on interpersonal relationships despite company regulations discouraging such things. It often made for awkward workplace tensions. For that reason alone, Peeta had tried to steer clear of getting involved with any of the stewardesses he’d known before he met Katniss.

She had changed his ideas about whether dating a co-worker was worth the hassle, and he had developed a serious crush on her. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to take notice of him, or any other pilot.

Which was good, considering on certain days he flew with guys like Cato Anderson as his co-pilot. He was a typical cocky young buck, who thought his license to fly a plane also gave him license to chase stewardesses. Those kinds of pilots were assholes who’d sleep with anything in a skirt, and Katniss always ignored their flirting and innuendos.

And while he was glad she didn’t fall for their tactics, Peeta was disappointed to learn she wasn’t open to dating him either.

On their last flight, a connecting one from New York to Edmonton, his sometimes co-captain Finnick Odair had asked her to go out for drinks, and she had turned him down saying, “I don’t date pilots” dismissively before turning around and going back to her duties.

Peeta had been happy that she’d turned Finnick down, even if the man was his friend and ultimately a good person under his playboy personna, but he had been crushed to hear about her dating policy -because it meant he was automatically barred from dating her as well.

So, the only thing he could do was admire her from afar.

Peeta returned his attention to the controls and the readouts coming from the displays on the cockpit circuit board.

“All clear, Captain. Let’s give’er,” Peeta told the older gentleman, and Captain Abernathy nodded before he clicked on the announcement mic and began his rehearsed spiel about how clear the skies were and how smooth their flight would be to ease the passengers into take-off mode.

Halfway through the flight, the same stewardess knocked on the cabin door and poked her head in to let the pilots know there was a couple who had snuck into the lavatory together and were causing a disturbance to the other passengers.

Peeta grimaced as Katniss told him that the door had been locked for twenty minutes and there were all manner of strange sounds coming from inside.

Katniss’ face had been an embarrassed shade of crimson when she had to ask for Peeta’s help in removing the couple from the washroom.

“Yeah, no, don’t worry; I’ll get them outta there in two minutes flat,” Peeta assured her before setting his controls on standby and unbuckling from his seat.

“Don’t go too hard on ‘em, boy. Young love knows no bounds!” Captain Abernathy chuckled in amusement as Peeta vacated his co-pilot seat.

Peeta rolled his eyes and muttered, “Young love, eh? Probably just two hosers looking to join the mile high club.”

Katniss apparently had heard his comment and looked back at him with a curious expression on her face.

“Hosers. It’s Candian for idiots. Do you all still say idiots in the States?” Peeta asked her with a tilt of his head.

Katniss pursed her lips like she was fighting off a smile. Peeta wondered what it would take to make her let go and laugh.

“Yes. I know about the term hosers. I’ve been working around you Canucks long enough to pick up on that one,” Katniss said with a subtle arch of her left eyebrow and a twinkle in her eye. That fact that she’d picked up on the slang word for Canadians made Peeta smile, which in turn made Katniss smile back. Her expression lit up her whole face with gentle beauty.

It made Peeta want to lean in to get a better look at the shades of gray in her eyes, framed by thick, dark lashes. But he held back, out of politeness. After all, it wasn’t very Canadian to invade a woman’s (or anyone’s for that matter) personal space.

Katniss cleared her throat and started over, looking away from him. “I meant the mile high club? What’s that?” she asked quietly.

Peeta had to do a double-take to make sure he’d heard her question correctly.

“Uh, well, you know. The mile high club. I think-er-the term was actually invented in The States…..” Peeta said, too dumbfounded by her innocence to answer her question correctly.

Another stewardess, Johanna Mason, who had three years working for the airline under her belt, snickered when she heard Peeta struggle to answer Katniss’ question.

“How can you be a stewardess and not know about the mile high club, Brainless?” Johanna teased, and Peeta shot her a look. He knew Johanna was virtually harmless; the girl was all bark and no bite, but he didn’t appreciate the way Johanna teased Katniss sometimes and called her Brainless.

Katniss was an adult (22 years old, to be exact; Peeta had found out from some of the other stewardesses by asking some discreet questions), but she had this quality about her. She wasn’t naive per se; it was more like she was pure.

“Don’t worry, give it a couple of months, and the things you’ll see on some of these planes will educate your virginal mind,” Johanna added with a smirk.

“I’m not a virgin!” Katniss exclaimed angrily, seeming to have spoken first without thinking.

Peeta couldn’t help but look at her in that moment. She seemed to realize what she just said, and her cheeks flushed with a dark cherry-red stain while she closed her eyes in an embarrassed wince.

“Whoa, I didn’t say you were. I just said your mind was virginal. It would be a crying shame if a grown woman like you didn’t know about‒” Johanna started to say.

“That’s enough, Ms. Mason. That kind of talk isn’t appropriate in the workplace,” Peeta cut Johanna off, and this time she actually clammed up and looked mildly contrite.

Peeta snuck a look at Katniss and saw that she was scowling; because of her embarrassment or because he had intervened on her behalf, he didn’t know which one it was.

Peeta shook his head and cleared his throat, returning his attention to the matter at hand.

“Let’s go get those passengers back in their seats,” Peeta said sternly, and Katniss nodded before following him towards the back of the plane where the lavatory was located.

The passengers in question, Glimmer and Marvel Jones (newlyweds, who apparently couldn’t wait until they got to their honeymoon suite) were easy enough to wrangle back into their seats after Peeta had a stern word with them through the lavatory door.

They stumbled from the washroom pink-cheeked and disheveled and slunk off after muttering some apologies to Peeta and Katniss.

Katniss thanked him quietly, and Peeta returned to the cockpit without further ado.

“I’m really not as stupid as Johanna makes me out to be.” Katniss’ voice surprised him. Peeta turned around in the empty plane to see her standing there, determined-looking but also slightly apprehensive.

They had just finished landing and exiting procedures at Edmonton International, and most everyone including the other stewardesses were rushing off to their next assignments.

“I don’t think you’re stupid, Miss Everdeen, I think you’re a class act,” Peeta replied, and then he winced because he thought that sounded like something a geriatric citizen would say. He wasn’t that much older than Katniss. He got his pilot’s license at 21 and had been flying for the last four years. He was usually a lot smoother with women, but there was something about Katniss Everdeen that made him feel like a tongue-tied teenager.

“Thank you, sir,” Katniss said in a careful tone, and Peeta groaned internally.

She definitely thinks I’m a deadshit. He thought to himself ruefully as he tried to scrounge up a piece of conversation that wouldn’t be boring.

“How many times do I have to ask you to call me Peeta?” he said with a sigh, because it was the only thing his brain could come up with in response.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just used to a more formal work environment. Back in the States there were stricter rules,” Katniss said with a huff.

Peeta noticed her dissatisfied grimace.

“Well, you’re in the Great North now, beautiful, and us Canadians are known for being very polite and friendly, no matter what you do, or where you’re from,” Peeta told her, and then he gave her one of his friendliest smiles.

Katniss bit her lip and nodded.

“I think I’m starting to understand that,” Katniss said quietly. It looked like she was biting back a smile.

Peeta looked up with hope in his eyes, wondering if Haymitch had been right and he should just go ahead and ask her out, even if she didn’t want to date him right away, maybe they could start out as friends.

“What you sayin’ tonight?” Peeta blurted out.

“Huh? Where am I staying?” Katniss asked and gave him a bewildered look.

“No! That's not what I meant, or, actually, that’s not what it sounded like. ‘What you sayin’ is a Canadian way of asking, ‘What are your plans for tonight?’” Peeta rushed to explain, and then he turned scarlet when Katniss gave him a blank, disbelieving look.

“I��m not one of those kinds of girls!” Katniss protested, narrowing her eyes at him.

Peeta felt like she’d slapped him across the face.

“No! What? Of course not! I just—I thought we could grab something to eat, if you’re done for the day,” Peeta clarified nervously.

Katniss blinked at him, still suspicious and disbelieving.

“As friends. I know you don’t date pilots,” Peeta said in a slightly sullen voice.

“Oh,” Katniss replied, her eyes widening in realization. But she made no other attempt to speak or answer, and after a few seconds Peeta was even more embarrassed.

“Yeah, no, it’s fine, if you don’t want to,” Peeta said, holding up his hands. “Sorry I asked! My friends all tell me I can be a real doughhead,” Peeta said with a laugh that was supposed to come out self-deprecating and humorous but instead sounded brittle. He moved away sharply, to escape back to the cockpit since he didn’t feel like trying to get past her in the tight airplane aisles.

“No, wait!” Katniss called after him.

To be continued…

#happy birthday #everlark #fic requests #pilot!peeta #Stewardess!Katniss #mile high everlark #lemonluvwrites

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sparklingdust4612 · 4 years ago

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@everlarkficquestions (there seems to be some problem and tumblr isnt letting me 'ask' people so...)

Hi! I noticed you put an asterisk after some author names in the masterlists. What are those for? Are those for you? or some indication for us?

and...is there a pilot, steward, co-pilot or mile high club everlark fic you know of? Thanks and have a great day :D

#ask #ask wont work #hunger games #everlark #pilot fic #everlarkficquestions

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captainseaweedbrains · 4 years ago

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Ship: Everlark #48

Thank you so much for sending me a prompt! I hope you enjoy! As always, drabbles don’t exist in my world. So it’s a bit longer than I anticipated. :P

Prompt: Meeting again at a high school reunion AU

Ao3: X

Send me a ship and a prompt and I’ll write a fic/drabble!

“If you don’t go over there and talk to him, I’m going to and you know I won’t edit out any embarrassing details,” Madge warned when she saw Katniss looking over at the Welcome table yet again.

Katniss scowled, the alcohol clearly not kicking in yet. “I don’t need your help, Madge.”

“You’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes, Katniss,” her friend pointed out, “watching that table like a scared hawk.”

“Can a hawk be scared?” Madge glared at her and she conceded. “All right, all right. Yes, I am acting like a scared, made-up hawk, but I can’t help it! I made a total ass of myself back in high school. I’m afraid he’ll remember.”

“Of course he’ll remember.”

“You’re no help. Why’d I bring you as my date again?”

Her friend smiled a winning smile and rubbed her swollen stomach. “Because my dearest husband decided a fishing trip with his brothers was more important than coming with me to our ten year high school reunion and he bribed you with anything you wanted from his store as thanks.”

“Right, right,” she laughed. “So why are you trying to pawn your date off on some stranger, Madge Hawthorne?”

“Please!” Madge scoffed. “Peeta Mellark is so not a stranger to you. How many times did you two hook up in high school? In the band room, under the stage in the auditorium, the Home Ec room, and correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you two do it in Abernathy’s office?”

Popping the maraschino cherry from her drink into her mouth, Katniss smiled. “I’m not confirming, nor denying, anything of the sort. We were total saints in high school.”

“Uh huh.” Madge sighed and readjusted herself in her seat. “If you were total saints, why not go over and talk about your sainthood with Peeta, then?”

Because she had broken his heart? Because 18-year-old Katniss panicked and ruined a great thing? Because she knew for a fact, thanks to Facebook and small town busybodies, that Peeta had just gotten out of an engagement with some gorgeous blonde who looked like a model and showing up now felt like cutting open an old scar? Because she was scared of telling him how she really felt then? And how those feelings haven’t really gone away and seeing him there, smiling and laughing next to Delly Cartwright as they welcomed old classmates, reminded her those feelings were definitely still there?

“Because he’s busy working the Welcome table,” she said instead. “Don’t you hate when people chit chat you up while you’re trying to work a table?”

“No, but that’s because I’m not weird about people like you are.”

“I miss the shy, barely-spoke Madge from high school,” Katniss teased, bumping her foot against Madge’s. “What happened to her?”

“I joined a sorority in college and had to do three years of recruitment,” was all she said, still giving Katniss a pointed look. “Go talk to him, Katniss. Rip the band aid off.”

She looked over at the table and frowned. “What if he tells me off? I don’t think I can handle that kind of rejection.”

“He won’t,” Madge comforted, resting a hand on Katniss’ knee. “But you won’t know until you go over and say hello. Here,” she tore off her name tag and ripped it in half, handing the two pieces over to Katniss. “Ask for a new name tag for me as your excuse to talk to him.”

She gratefully took the stickers and stood up, glancing over at the table. Two people were in line, the first person animatedly talking to both Peeta and Delly she didn’t recognize from behind. Yes, she can do this. With one long shot of her drink, she went and stood in line, Madge giving a whoop of cheer in support.

The wait wasn’t long. Five minutes tops before she was walking up to the table, the two pale blondes smiling up at her, reminding her of all those times in high school they’d be managing the ticket table at lunch for Student Council or the ticket booth for football and basketball games.

“Katniss Everdeen!” Delly welcomed in her high-pitched squeaky voice that hasn’t changed a bit in ten years. “I thought I saw you around! You silly goose, how are you? What have you been up to? How has life been treating you? How is that lovely sister of yours?”

“Delly,” Katniss smiled. Even now, after all these years, it was hard not to reciprocate the woman’s warmth and energy. “Life’s been good, thanks. Can’t complain. Still living at home with my mom and sister. Prim’s fine. Going to school to be a doctor.”

“That’s amazing! And you’re a teacher now, I hear, right?”

“Um—yes, I am.” Her eyes shifted to Peeta, who was all smiles as well, before focusing back on Delly. “I’m a high school choral director at the high school next town over.”

“You did always have a beautiful voice,” Peeta stepped in and her legs almost turned to jello at the sound of his familiar yet somewhat deeper voice. “Inspiring students to find their voices.” Ever the wordsman, Peeta Mellark was.

“Yes,” she blushed, unable to help herself. “Um. That’s a really nice way of saying I spend half my time telling my classes to quiet down so we can get some work done.” They laughed and that helped calm some of her anxiety. “How are you both? I haven’t seen either of you since we all left for college!”

Delly answered first. “I’m a proud Stay-at-Home-Mom—”

“Don’t get her started on her triplets or else we’ll be here all night,” Peeta teased, happily accepting Delly’s shove.

“Wow,” Katniss breathed. “Triplets. That’s—that’s a lot of babies!”

“That’s what Thom says—you remember Thom, right, Katniss? We all had gym together in eleventh grade. Well, he’s my amazing husband now and he’s always joking how we nailed it out of the park on the first try.” She held out her phone to show a picture of three chubby toddlers, two girls and a boy, smiling cheekily at the camera in nothing but their diapers. “Gretchen, Analise, and Tommy,” Delly explained, pointing to each happy baby. “They just turned three last month and boy, are they keeping me busy!”

Katniss nodded. “They look adorable, Delly. Look just like you.”

“Thank you. That’s what everyone says.” She put her phone away. “Anyone in your life, Katniss?”

“Oh, um. No.” She looked down at the stickers in her hand, realizing she didn’t need it now with Delly talking a mile a minute. “Work keeps me pretty busy and most guys don’t understand why I prioritize a bunch of high schoolers over—well, everything.” She laughed, feeling a bit awkward now talking about her non-existent love life.

Delly looked over at Peeta, a knowing look in her eyes. “Peeta knows exactly how that is.”

“Delly,” he said, rolling his eyes at her. “I’m a high school art teacher,” he explained to Katniss. “And I run the school’s debate and speech teams for some extra money. So I get prioritizing your students over everything else.”

Oh. She didn’t know he was a teacher, too. Well that made a lot of sense why it was a pain hunting him down on Facebook. How had she not put two and two together? “Elective teachers unite,” she joked half-heartedly, feeling nervous again now that the attention was on him.

“May our program budgets always just barely make the cut,” he joined in, all smiles. She smiled back, unable to help herself. His smiles, familiar despite time away, always made her feel more at ease.

“You know, ever since I had the triplets, my bladder has never been the same,” Delly abruptly said standing up. “I have to visit the potty. The bathroom,” she corrected herself. “We’re working on potty training right now. Peeta, guard the table while I’m away?”

“Oh. Uh, sure thing, Dells.”

“You keep a close eye on him, Katniss. Make sure he doesn’t cause any mischief,” Delly warned with a wag of her finger before walking away, waving to those she knew as she went, which seemed to be everyone.

Katniss stood there for a moment, forlornly watching their buffer leave. She barely knew Delly, but now as the curly-haired blonde left, she felt a bit of a betrayal of being left alone with Peeta.

“You don’t have to watch over me,” Peeta said, her attention snapping back to him. “Delly was just teasing.”

“Oh no, it’s okay.” It wasn’t, not really, but admitting that would make things ten times more awkward. “Madge is my supposed date tonight, but she’s been spending more time in the bathroom than with me. So it’s fine. Um.” Just get it over with! “How are you, Peeta?”

“I’m fine, Katniss. Thank you for asking.”

“Of course, of course.” Wishing she’d consumed more alcohol before pursuing this quest, she went forth, “I heard you moved back into town. With your brother?”

He shook his head. “I forgot how small this town is. Yeah. I moved back. Go on and ask.” He motioned at her, rolling his eyes. “About my engagement. Everyone’s been asking about it.”

Katniss winced. “I didn’t want to pry, but yeah, I heard.”

“As did many others.” He sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “I’m fine, really. I broke it off with her, actually. Wasn’t a right fit,” he explained. “I didn’t think it fair to either of us to continue further, but it still hurts a little.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Peeta.” But was she really, though? Was she seriously happy about a guy she hadn’t spoken to in over ten years being single again? God, she was a horrible person. “But it sounds like you did the mature thing. Breaking it off like that.”

He shrugged. “That’s what everybody tells me.”

Someone came up behind her and she stepped aside as Peeta snapped into greetings mode. It was amazing watching him change so swiftly like that. Some people truly never changed, she realized, remembering how quickly he seemed to change moods at the flip of a switch. He did it the day she broke things off with him. How his eyes cascaded down in disappointment and she’d wondered if he might cry after confessing how he felt about her for all this time, but then someone had walked in, calling out to them, and he became all smiles and acted like nothing drastic had happened between them.

It was a bit unsettling, the more she thought about it now.

The line of late comers started growing and Delly still hadn’t returned. Deciding to keep her promise, Katniss took a seat next to Peeta and smiled as another former classmate stepped up, ignoring the quizzical look he sent her as they were asked questions about times for the planned events and how they both were doing. Many assumed they were married now, remembering how close the two were in high school, and thank god for Peeta stepping in and saving her stumbling tongue, explaining how Katniss was just keeping Delly’s seat warm until she returned and that they hadn’t seen each other until tonight.

After the third or fourth classmate assumed their matrimonial union, Katniss laughed, picking at the ripped sticker she’d stuck to her skirt for safe keeping. “I didn’t realize so many people remembered us together.”

“Small town school,” he reminded her, his tone light and joking. Like she didn’t stupidly break his heart. “I’m not surprised they remembered you. You forget how much of an effect you have on people, Katniss.”

Her cheeks warmed. “I think you mean yourself there, Mr. Popular. I was that awkward band and choir girl with the braces who never shut up about why the Baroque style was far superior to Classical.”

“I remember those rants fondly,” Peeta laughed. “Your face would get all pinched because I barely knew what you were talking about, so I couldn’t offer any opinion. And I loved those braces! The silver brackets really brought out the silver in your eyes.”

She rolled her eyes, remembering that line he used to pull every time she complained about her teeth. “Well I’m happy to say those days are gone. I’ve been metal-free since college.”

“Took that long, huh?”

“I’m pretty sure my orthodontist was just milking it for my money those last three years,” she laughed. “My teeth looked pretty straight to me.” Katniss smiled widely, showing off her white, straight teeth she suffered many mouth cuts and rubber band snaps to achieve. He joined her and wow. It really did feel like no time had passed between them. Like they were just a couple of teens back in high school, making fun of a teacher or a douchey classmate.

Peeta looked down at the table, tapping his pen in thought. “You know,” he said after a moment, still looking down, “I am free from this table at 7.”

“That makes sense,” she nodded. “If people haven’t arrived in the first hour and a half, that’s their loss.”

“It is,” he smiled, glancing up at her. Yes, his eyes were still as clear blue as she remembered, and was it possible for eyelashes to grow? His looked longer now. “If you’d be fine with it, Katniss, I’d like to catch up with you some more.” Was it her imagination or did he seem nervous? That made no sense. She broke his heart. If anyone should be nervous, it was her. And she was. The constant flutter in her stomach more noticeable now with her sitting so close to him.

“Oh. Um.” It was her turn to look down at her hands. “Okay. Sure. Yeah, that’d be great.”

Peeta seemed uncertain, though. “Are you sure? Was I too forward just now? Sorry, ever since my break-up, I seem to be a bit rusty talking with people.” That was hard to believe.

“No, no!” Katniss rushed to assure him. “I just—didn’t think you’d really want to catch up after how we ended things.” There. She mentioned it. Old heartbreak was out there now. “I know I messed things up pretty badly.”

To her surprise, Peeta laughed, shaking his head. “Trust me, that is water under the bridge, Katniss. I was stupid and should have picked up on the vibes you were sending me.”

“And I was stupid, too,” she said, a bit shyly.

“High schoolers can be pretty stupid.”

“I don’t know,” she smiled. “Mine seem a lot smarter than when we were that age.”

“Mine too.” He pretended to think. “Perhaps we were just idiots and it has nothing to do with how young we were.”

She laughed. “Maybe.”

He tapped her pen with his. “To being idiots?”

“To being idiots.” She tapped his pen back.

And at 7 o’clock sharp, Peeta declared it was time they drank until they got so drunk, it was like they were back at Finnick Odair’s Friday night after-game parties. Katniss happily agreed, sternly reminding him she wasn’t going to make out with him tonight like they used to do in the toolshed during those parties, causing him to burst out laughing. Quickly scrawling out Madge’s name on a new sticker, she told Peeta she’d meet him at the bar.

“I have to give my date her sticker.” He told her the booze waited for no one and headed to where a group of their classmates were chanting for someone to “Chug! Chug! Chug!” She smiled and went back to Madge, who was chatting with Leevy Anderson, an old friend of hers.

“Well,” Madge asked after Leevy excused herself. “You were gone an awful long time. Did you get my sticker?” Katniss handed it to her with a smile. “I take it things went well? Or were you just sputtering out nonsense.”

“It went very well,” Katniss told her, glancing over at the bar where Peeta stood, holding two drinks out, one clearly being hers. “We’re going to get crazy drunk now because this night has been extremely long for both of us. I hope you’re fine driving me?”

“One of us needs to get crazy drunk tonight,” Madge laughed, patting her stomach. “Drink for me, too?”

“Of course.”

“Going to make out with Peeta Mellark like old times?” her friend teased, noticing Peeta now. “I’m sure there’s a closet you two can sneak into.”

Katniss scoffed at her friend’s blatant assumption. “No, we’re not making out tonight, Madge.” Madge nodded, taking a sip of her pop. “We might next Friday, though,” she added a bit coyly. “He’s taking me out to dinner.” And she walked away before her friend could say anything further.

#Everlark #The Hunger Games #Everlark fanfic #The Hunger Games fanfic #Everlark fanfiction #The Hunger Games fanfiction #my writing #asks #mandelion82 #high school reunion #fluff

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lovely-tothe-bone · 6 years ago

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*Sigh* Someday I'm gonna catch up on all my projects and I'll be able to make cool amazing things for all the stories. In the mean time here's another last minute rec without anything cool to go with it 😕

Two is Better Than One - @justme-kt

Part I || Part II

Rated M (border E imo just for the sexual content)

On a night out with her friends Katniss bumps into a face from her past she had always hoped would be in her future.

This little drabbley-one shot is in the feels vein of @papofglencoe Mile High, which always deserves a reread too. This is a quick dose of flirty fluff smut. Perfect little gem to perk you up and make your chest all light with Everlark crush giddiness.

Kismet4891 best known for Evolution and Linger but all their writing is fantastic. Unfortunately some are unfinished (Linger & D-D-D 😭) but not these.

Putting Him First Rated E 2k words

Post Mockingjay one shot on a rainy morning when Katniss struggles and overcomes a moment of depression to indulge in her connection with Peeta. Emotional, raw, Everlark love & sex. Packs punch so be prepared for feels.

Purpose Served Rated E

Warnings: Major character death(s), underage, abuse, non con/prostitution, suicide

What if Katniss, Peeta, and Gale were planning to run away from District 12 and were found out?

This is super dark and twisted. Please read with caution.

#everlark #everlarkficbackfriday #fic back friday #thg

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thgfanfictionlibrary · 1 year ago

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E Rated Fics Masterlist (26)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18 / Part 19 / Part 20 / Part 21/ Part 22 / Part 23 / Part 24 / Part 25 /

Created: December 28th, 2023

Last Checked:-----

26.2-authoresskika (ao3) Summary: Modern AU; After her best friend suffers two grievous losses in one fell swoop, Katniss devotes years to helping him rediscover just how good life can be again. When the final step Peeta wants to take is actually 26.2 miles, Katniss finds herself struggling to keep up — both with him and her own conflicted feelings. Oneshot (for now) originally written for Fandom4LLS.

Camping Anyone?-MegaAuLover (ao3) Summary: Katniss gets caught in a rainstorm during Camping she accidentally runs into the wrong Tent of the one man she's never been able to get out of her head, Peeta Mellark

Dream Come True-HGfanonezillion (ao3) Summary: Peeta thought meeting Olympian Katniss Everdeen was the highlight of his life. But in all his dreams and fantasies, he never would have thought he'd actually end up alone with Katniss in her hotel room.

Everybody's Got a Dark Side-shesasurvivor (ao3) Summary: When Katniss reminds Peeta about the time President Snow visited the study, it accidentally triggers an episode. Then Peeta decides it's time to reclaim Katniss… and the desk. Hijacked!Peeta smut, post-Mockingjay. Written as a present for everlarkbirthdaygifts on Tumblr.

The Bartender-mrspeetamellark (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen is an event planner in charge of a high-profile fundraising gala at the Panem Country Club. She's working towards a promotion and needs the event to be flawless. Will she be able to impress her boss enough to achieve her goal? Who can she trust to help her ensure the event goes off without a hitch?

The Cook's Contract-HGfanonezillion (ao3) Summary: Peeta is a Duke in need of a bride. But Katniss, a servant in his kitchen, is the woman who has his eye -- and his heart.

The Potting Shed-mrspeetamellark (ao3) Summary: Post Mockingjay Everlark, canon compliant. Written for everlarkalwaysandforever on tumblr, who requested a story where Haymitch walks in on Everlark doing the deed and lectures them afterwards 😉. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Wait For Me-nightleyss (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen has already experienced a lot of strange things, but this had to be the oddest one so far. And everything just because of a marble statue that she didn't seem to be able to get out of her mind. Everlark AU/originally written for S2SL 2015.

Wrapped In Red-katnissdoesnotfollowback (ao3) Summary: Katniss is trying to be a good friend to her recently divorced pal. She really is. But this holiday season, fate, her own feelings, and Peeta’s daughter have other plans. An advent style Everlark story.

You Are What You Are-Abagail_Snow (ao3) Summary: During Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta get snowed in.

#e #masterlist #everlark #everlark fanfiction #thg #thg fanfiction #e masterlist

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everlarkficquestions · 6 years ago

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Sunday Stumped Day 27

It’s another Sunday Stumped Day.

Sometimes we straight out get stumped. So each week on Sunday we’ll post of a list of asks that we need your help on.

If you have an answer to any of these shoot us a message/ask/reply with the Post number and the fic number and we’ll add it and give you a shout out with our thanks. Any links you can provide will also be super helpful.

Thanks!

Post 1 , Post 2 , Post 3, Post 4, Post 5, Post 6, Post 7, Post 8, Post 9, Post 10, Post 11, Post 12, Post 13, Post 14, Post 15, Post 16, Post 17, Post 18, Post 19, Post 20, Post 21, Post 22 , Post 23, Post 24, Post 25, and Post 26 can be found here - and there are still fics we need your help with.

434. kyloknightren said to everlarkficquestions:

this is very vague but any fics where they discuss having kids? obviously post mj i tried looking through lists but it was hard to narrow it down

435. redhoodhungergames said to everlarkficquestions:

I’m looking for a fic where katniss and peeta have sex in a closet and peetas grandma opens the door on them

FOUND!

A Year of Firsts by redheadedflame

Thank you @nat11901!

436. redhoodhungergames said to everlarkficquestions:

Fics that K and P do it in public?

FOUND!

Bros Before Ho!Ho!Hos! by papofglencoe

Mile High by papofglencoe

Bullseye by Everylark, papofglencoe

Thank you @papofglencoe!

437. redhoodhungergames said to everlarkficquestions:

Sorry this is my third ask today 😂. Looking for a fic where katniss use to date gale and then dates peeta. She’s kind of a bad girl. They break up at the end but meet again like 10 years later

FOUND!

A Year of Firsts by Redheadedflame

Thank you @lovely-tothe-bone!

438. bdoajdbfjfksnsnsk said to everlarkficquestions:

hi! im looking for a fic where katniss has a dream that she and peeta had kids and peeta has just dropped them off at haymitch’s(?) then peeta came back to their bedroom to find katniss rummaging in a box that they keep their sex toys and sexy times ensue including a vibrator and maybe a blindfold(?) then katniss wakes up. i think the fic was miltichapter in Panem, pre-epilogue. i’d be really grateful if u guys can help me find it. thanks!

FOUND!

Stockholm Syndrome by ohalaskayoung

Thank you @lovely-tothe-bone!

439. lionheartedgirl542 said to everlarkficquestions:

Are there any everlark fics based on The 100? Or a similar premise?

FOUND!

Forsaken by TheMaryScribbler

Thank you @everlarkarchive!

440. severelymaximumllama said to everlarkficquestions:

Hello!. I`m looking for a Fic. Peeta returns home. He's a chef and will to build a new restaurant with his friends Cinna and Finnick. Katniss is a photographer. Thanks and continue with his great job!

441. redhoodhungergames said to everlarkficquestions:

Hey. I wanted to ask if there any of the stories that were turned into original works(such as Lovesick) had any references to Everlark?

FOUND!

The Guardian trilogy by @mareebrittenford (who wrote for Everlark as @iamseemaree) has roots as Everlark. The trilogy is completely finished, and you can purchase it on Amazon.

Thank you @papofglencoe!

442. joshifer4everyone said to everlarkficquestions:

Hello there, Could you please post any fics, where prim is smart, funny or sarcastic or central to the story! I have read few fics, but unable to recollect the names! Appreciate your time!! Thank you!

FOUND!

Outside Chance Universe by Katnissdoesnotfollowback

Thank you @alliswell21!

443. mmarie20050013 said to everlarkficquestions:

so I think this is a long shot but do you know of a fic where I think Peeta and Gale are friends in college and they go abroad (I think to the middle east?) and Peeta meets Katniss and they get married or something and she comes back to the US with him?

FOUND!

Desert Blossom by Dustwriter, but it has been removed to make into an original screenplay.

Thank you @norbertsmom!

444. avengers4s said to everlarkficquestions:

hi! i'm looking for this smut fic on fanfictionnet that i read a while ago. it had different AUs in each chapter, e.g. katniss is a singer + peeta is an actor + they're friends with benefits when gale isn't in town, and one where peeta is a werewolf and katniss is the only one to come close and be his friend. i don't remember anything other than i think i read it on ffn and the AUs but it's never specific enough for me to find on google :( can anyone help? thank you!

POSSIBLY!

101 Ways to Say "I Love You" by papofglencoe, sirrah_sirrah

Thank you @papofglencoe!

445. thisisfunsoenjoy said to everlarkficquestions:

Hi! I’m trying to find a certain wip and had 22 chapters but maybe more by now and it was about how katniss entered a drawing and was paid for by peeta (who lives in the capitol) to be his wife. I only got 8ish chapters in but up to that point they moved to the capitol and they do go back to 12 to visit her family and they were coming closer together by then

FOUND!

Just Like Heaven by lesbianophelia

Thank you @everhutcher and @alliswell21!

Do any of these fics ring a bell? Please let us know!

#SSD #mod post

32 notes · View notes

everlarkbirthdaygifts · 7 years ago

Text

Happy Birthday, moviefangal!

Today, we wish Happy Birthday to @moviefangal! We hope you’re having a wonderful, wonderful day, and that your cake was absolutely perfect! To keep your party going a little while longer, the lovely @herainab has written a story just for you!

Title: Karaoke Dream

Gift for: moviefangal who requested “That asshole stole my song at karaoke night” with an everlark twist.

Rating: Mature

Happy birthday! Hope your day is wonderful and hopefully you enjoy my spin on this little take on Everlark and their karaoke.

---

“So we’ll meet at the bus at 6 to head off for dinner." Jo, our trip leader, reminds us. "I'll head in and check us all in and meet you where Thom parks the bus.” She gathers her things and jumps off the bus just as Thom our driver pulls up outside the hostel camping site and lets her out.

Thom easily reverses the bus down throughout the hostel camping site, and we stay on the bus as we wait for Jo. The sun was warm out, and she warned us it could take a while to check in, so we sit and wait while Thom makes fast work of unloading the 35 bags from the bus before he gets to work on cleaning the outside and we stay in the aircon waiting for Jo.

"Oh, it's cobblestone." Madge curses as she steps back onto the bus and sits beside me. She literally brought her whole bedroom with her, and she's dragging the suitcase around and cursing every single staircase she sees or Cobblestone Street she has to wheel her bag over.

“I hope we’re not too far away.” She states as we climb out of the bus with Jo’s arrival. She's a packhorse with her backpack on her back, and her camera bag slung over her shoulders.

“It’s flat I think.” I tell her, craning my neck to see what the street is like.

“Thank fuck.”

“I told you that you need to get in with the guys and get them to carry your bag.” I whisper to her. “Use those blue eyes of yours.”

“But I have a boyfriend.”

"Who's an arsehole and dropped out of the trip." I remind her. He didn't give a reason, but he didn't want to go anymore. I'm pretty sure he's fooling around with some 18-year-old girl. “You don’t have to sleep with them, just thank them with a drink or something else.”

“But that gives the wrong impression.”

"You set the boundaries." I tell her. "Besides, I think Gale boy is keen on you. He's always checking you out and gets nervous talking to you.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah right.”

“I’d maybe hang back and see what he does.” I look over my shoulder to see him standing just beside the bus in the shade with a few others “Make sure you grunt and moan a lot and curse the ground as you drag your bag along. He’ll swoop in like a knight in shining armour.”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to sleep with him.” She thinks any favour she accepts means she has to sleep with the guy who offers. That’s what her arsehole boyfriend makes her think. She needs rid of him immediately, and I hope 40 days of travelling without him will make her realise that. Will make her realise how beautiful, kind and caring she is and that she deserves the world.

I was glad he dropped out of the trip to give us time to spend together, reminiscing and reconnecting from our high school days. If he were here, it'd be a drag, and she wouldn't be allowed to have any fun or do her own thing.

“OK, I’ll hand you out your keys. We’ll meet here at 6 pm to head for dinner. I'll collect the money from those who haven't paid me yet also." Jo says.

She hands the keys out as she reads down the list and everyone starts to move off slowly.

"312, we've got Katniss, Madge, Jacinta and Delly." Jo reads aloud. Delly is up front and grabs the room keys for us, and we head off in the direction of our cabin.

The ground is a little uneven, and our cabin is on the far side of the site. I'm glad for my luggage choice and throw my pack over my shoulders.

“You right, Madge?” I ask her as we start to follow Delly to our cabin.

"Madge, do you want a hand with your suitcase?" Gale asks her, and I smile to myself.

"Oh, you don't have to." She tells him.

"No, it's fine." He smiles at her, and they walk down the street together, Gale managing his own pack, daypack and then Madge’s oversized suitcase over the uneven ground. "We're right next to each other."

I don't wait up for them and continue on my way, listening to the small talk. I can tell Gale likes Madge and I know she is attracted to him but with her relationship status hanging over her she's closed off and cautious at what she says.

“He likes you.” I claim as soon as the door closes.

“Shush.” She says. “He can probably hear you.”

“Oh, stop being a baby.” I tell her, dumping my things on the floor beside the bunk. “Just, don’t be a stick in the mud.” I sigh. “Please just keep having a good time and don’t ever question anything you do. This is your holiday, your energy, your time and your experience. You only get out what you put in and moping around and thinking what Cato is going to think if you do something isn’t worth it.”

“We’ve been together for four years.”

“I know.” I smile at her, wiping the tears from her eyes. “But sometimes change is as good as a holiday. You’re not the same person I graduated high school with, and I can see how much he is eating away at your soul. My aunt wasted 18 years with a deadbeat guy. I don't want you doing the same thing." She nods her head. "Let's have the time of our lives tonight. I hear there's karaoke." I grin.

We work like ants to get ready for our evening. It’s the first big evening we’ve had out in a week, and everyone is keen to get dressed up and make themselves look a little more human and let loose tonight. There's a tag team for the shower, we crowd around the mirror and help each other as we decide on outfits and do our hair.

“What time do we have?” Jacinta asks.

“5:55.” I tell her.

“Shit.” She cusses, reaching for her mascara.

“You look fine.” Delly tells her as she finishes putting her shoes on.

“I look like a mess.”

“You look spectacular.” Madge reiterates. “Don’t stress.” She tells her, handing her a room key. “I’m heading to the bus if anyone else is ready.”

I follow her and quickly check in with Prim, replying to her message.

“So, are you going to get up and sing at karaoke?” She asks me.

I laugh. "You know me."

“You’re amazing, Katniss and after Barcelona, everyone loved you. They’re hanging out for you to sing again.”

“I was pretty drunk in Barcelona.” I laugh.

"You were, but you were great." She smiles “I’ll come up with you if that makes you feel better.”

“I’d love for you to sing with me.” I hug her.

My first job at uni was at a Japanese restaurant that was also popular on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night doubling as a karaoke bar. A lot of the uni students would stumble by on a Tuesday night for cheap Tuesday. They'd get a cheap feed, drinks and would usually stick around for karaoke and nothing was more rewarding than watching drunken uni students sing off key and drunkenly sway together as they sang along to the lyrics.

I have fond memories from my days working as a waitress there, the owners were brilliant, the staff were great to work for, and the customers were always fantastic. I got to the stage of being shift supervisor eventually and in charge of close from Tuesday to Thursday night and the staff would usually stick around after the customers had left to have our own sing-a-long and drinks as we cleaned and packed up.

There I established my go-to karaoke playlist.

We had already done karaoke in Barcelona, and I knew it was time for another song in my top 5 as I couldn’t double up again. I was skipping a few going to song number 5.

Drinks are flowing by the time we settle into dinner. Our group takes up the room, and we are happy with our 12 euro jug cocktails and meals.

“Katniss, are you getting up to sing?” One of the girls yells down the table.

"Hell yeah, she is." Madge claims, slamming a shot down in front of me. "Aren't you Kat?" She says, holding her glass up to toast with mine.

I down the shot, shaking my head at the burn of the vodka. “Hell yeah. You all better stay.”

“We aren’t going anywhere.”

We're pretty close to tipsy by the time we eat our dinner and head into the next room where there is a small group gathered already waiting in anticipation for the karaoke night.

“There’ll probably be another Tribute group and a Career group too.” Jo tells us as she sits down at the table beside me. “So it’s going to be a little crazy.”

“You getting up to sing, Jo?” Thresh asks her.

“I don’t ever turn down an opportunity to sing. Why don’t we go up together?” She suggests.

“Deal.” Thresh tells her, clinking his glass.

“So what are we singing?” Madge asks me.

“Latch.” I tell her. “The Disclosure version.”

She nods in approval and orders another jug for us to drink as the room starts to fill. There's music being played for now, Jo and Thresh getting up to be the first to sing.

We’re on our feet when Thresh and Jo take the stage and the familiar sound of ‘A Thousand Miles’ starts, and we go crazy for them, singing along with them and cheering for them when they finish.

“Let’s go line up.” Madge suggests as the line is starting to grow. “Bring your drink.”

We wait in line, singing and dancing along. We wince when those tone-deaf get up on and sing out of time.

“Man I don’t know if they’re wasted or just terrible karaoke singers.” Madge says to me.

"I'd say a bit of both." I wince at the note being missed. "No, they are just terrible."

“This bring back memories from the karaoke bar?”

I nod, feeling a little sad that I haven't been there for two years now, having since moved on to my career. "I miss it now and then. They were my little family. I miss especially our closing shifts."

“I bet you do.” She smiles. “Oh well, make them proud again tonight.”

"I will."

A blond guy four ahead of us takes the stage by himself. Madge and I chat, showing each other memes on our phone to pass the silence in between the singers.

“Gale is looking at you.” I tell her as casually as I can.

“He is not.”

"In five seconds do a casual sweep of our table, and you'll see." I tell her. "5,4,3,2 and 1."

Madge casually looks up from her phone and scans the room, her eyes quickly going over our group and our table where Gale is focused on her.

“He likes you.” I tell her for the thousandth time.

“He doesn’t.”

“Madge, he does. I wished you give him the time of day cause he’s a nice guy.”

“He doesn’t even live near me.”

“You’re already jumping to….” The familiar tune of Latch begins breaking me from my sentence. “That arsehole stole my karaoke song.” I swing around to the stage to see the culprit. “Fucking arsehole. I was going to sing that song.” I whine, trying to make him out through the stage lights. "For fuck sakes."

“Katniss, it’s fine.” Madge tells me. “We can sing your next song.”

"I don't want to. I wanted to sing this song." I tell her as Blondie sings it. He doesn't butcher it and is on time. "That arsehole stole my song."

“It’s just a song.”

I know I'm overreacting, but this was one of my songs. I've had my heart set on singing this since we left Barcelona last week.

“Come on, we’ll sing Dancing Queen or something.”

‘Now I got you in my space I won’t let go of you Got you shackled in my embrace I’m latching on to you’

I look up at the stage again and death glare the song stealer. He has no idea who I am but he’ll be the arsehole who stole my karaoke song.

“Have a nice evening.” I say to the last customers who walk out the door a little tipsy. Thursday karaoke has picked up again with the warmer weather and we’re encountering a lot of work groups coming for dinner and staying to sing and have a laugh.

I've been the shift supervisor for just over six months now, and I love it. I know this place like the back of my hand, I have the confidence to fix any issue, to direct staff and deal with the few complaints we may have. The team repays me with their enthusiasm and attention to detail, and we always have a good night. I think most of them are excited for our close as we have our staff karaoke party.

I lock the door after them and watch my team move around like ants cleaning up the remaining tables, sweeping and mopping the floors and having the back of house tidied. It's just the wait staff, barman and dishwasher remaining, the cooks left when we finished our dinner service at 9.

“What’s your poison of choice tonight?” Peeta asks me from behind the bar.

“Something sweet I think.”

“I don’t know how you drink so much sweet stuff.” He comments, turning his nose up with a big smile. “I can’t do it.”

“We all didn’t grow up in a bakery.” I tease.

“I suppose that’s true.” He laughs. “Do you trust me to make you something?”

“Always. You’ve never let me down.” I smile. “I’m just going to take the money to the office.”

“Do you want to ask the rest of them what they’re having?”

“Sure thing.”

I lock the money in the safe, happy its balanced for the night and lock up the office before checking in on the rest of the staff. The waiter and waitress are helping the dishwasher with the remaining glasses and jugs and also starting on the floors.

I get their orders, bringing them to Peeta who has finished my cocktail and presents it to me on the bar.

“What is it?”

“Try it.”

I take a sip, trying to guess the flavours of this concoction. He liked trying them out on me before he added them to the specials menu the next week.

“Strawberry something?”

“Strawberry mojito.”

“This is nice.” I compliment him. “I could have a few of these.”

“I can drive you home if you want to have a few.” He laughs as he opens the beers and the can of Coke.

“Oh no, we have our exam tomorrow, don’t want to be foggy for that.”

“We’ll be fine.” He reminds me. “You’ve had a great tutor and haven’t fallen behind once.”

“Well, tomorrow might be the day.”

“Then that means I’ve failed you as a student.”

"Well, if you actually tutored me in statistics and not in your impressive movie collection."

“Hey, I didn’t hear any complaints from you.”

I stick my tongue out at him, and he laughs.

I got him the job when we returned last year for the semester. He was in my class, one I had to do to pick up the units for my degree in Environmental Science. So I enrolled in stats and Peeta has been helping me throughout the semester as he was finishing his degree in business management that he was cruising through. We’d partnered together on assignments and become fast friends.

They were in need of a bartender at work and I asked him to come and meet the owner that afternoon, and he started working that evening. He's boosted business, and we're busy every night of the week, especially with the uni students who eat for cheap on a Tuesday night.

The three of them come out from the back, and I take the broom from Brody. "You're up Ben." I tell him, pushing him towards the karaoke machine.

He puts up a small fight but doesn’t complain as he searches for his song and starts singing his go-to of Michael Jackson.

It’s our little routine. We sing. One of us sweeps the front, and the other follows behind with the mop. We dance as we close, we sing, and we laugh.

I sweep the floor, close to the bar singing along to Billie Jean and find myself in Peeta’s arms as we dance, failing the moonwalk and any other dance move we try.

‘Billie Jean is not my lover She's just a girl who claims that I am the one” Peeta sings as he moonwalks around me.

“I think you wished you were Michael Jackson.” I laugh as a sip my drink. He nods, does a spin and crotch grab as he finishes the chorus. “Don’t go too hard.”

Ben finishes, leaving for the night and Amy and Jax take the microphones and start their usual duet.

“They are so into each other.” I comment as I lean against the bar and Peeta sips his bar.

“Oh, young love.”

“They’re a year younger than us.” I laugh.

"Still, they're cute. It's like they are 14 years old." He says. "They blush and go shy around each other. They’ll get together eventually. I mean, they’re singing High school musical songs together. That’s true love.”

“Stop it. I wish I had someone to sing high school musical with.” I admit.

“Well, we can sing high school musical if you want.”

I turn and smile at him and see him smiling slightly.

“It’s fine. I’ve got my karaoke playlist.”

“So what will it be tonight? Torn, Dancing Queen, Believe, Since you’ve been gone or will you bring out some classic Queen?”

“I’ve got something new.”

“You do?”

"Yep, I think this will go on my list."

“You're branching out. I love it." He smirks as he drinks his beer.

“Thought you would.” I smile.

The two lovebirds finish their song and Peeta pushes me forward. “Time for you to sing, songbird.”

I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling too much like an idiot and try to compose myself before I have to face him. It's a song he got me into recently on our many study and tutoring sessions. It has always happened to be on in the car if he drives me to work and he's made me obsessed. When the music plays I see the smile on his face, and I try not to watch him for too long, or I'll know I'll go red.

“Now I got you in my space I won’t let go of you Got you shackled in my embrace I’m latching on to you”

I end with massive applause like usual and thank them all. Amy and Jax leave as it's nearing 1 am, knowing it's time to head on out as well.

“So, is Latch going to become one of your go to’s now?” He asks me as he shoves his hands into his coat pockets and leads me to his car.

“I think so.” I chuckle. “You think it’s a good karaoke song?”

"Yeah, I do." He smiles. "I really do. I mean, anything you sing you nail, so you don't have to worry about what you choose." He tells me as Ariana Grande comes on in the car.

“Thanks.” I’m thankful it’s dark in the car so he can’t see my reddened cheeks. “I think that’s going to be second on my list.”

“I’ve never met someone with who actually has a karaoke list.” He laughs. “They usually have one song and just stick with it. You have a top 5."

I laugh cause it sounds a little ridiculous. “You forgot my top 5 duet list as well.”

“You have a top 5 duet list? Why haven’t I heard this?”

"Because I only duet when I've found the best duet partner, and I haven't found them just yet."

"Well, I hope for you're sake you do." He smiles. "Or you humour me one night and allow me to join you. If you allow it?"

“I’ll allow it.”

"Can't believe the arsehole stole my song." I mutter as he finishes the song to a wild applause from his group.

Blondie bows, lapping up the attention and jumping down the stairs to be surrounded by his group who hand him his beer.

“Don’t worry about him.” Madge tells me. “Do you want another drink?”

“Sure, thanks.”

She heads off to buy us two drinks while we wait in line, knowing it'll be a while before we can go up. I'm sulking big time over my stolen song and don't know if I want to back out because of it. I'm acting childish, and I know our group will be disappointed if I back down now.

“Let’s sing some Ariana Grande.” I suggest to Madge when she comes back with my drink. I've gotten over my tantrum slightly, and I don't want to put a downer on the evening. Especially Madge's when I told her to lighten up and live a little. I want her enjoying herself tonight, and if I'm not enjoying myself, she'll tap out and go back to the hostel early. “One last time?”

“Hell yeah.” She states as we clink our glasses together and drink.

It's our time to shine, and we step up on stage, grabbing our mics and putting in our request. Our group cheers us on, and I smile over at Madge as we get ready to sing.

I feel the music, enjoying the moment and the fact I'm standing up in some Florence bar singing in front of close to a hundred strangers.

Majority of the crowd dance and sing with each other, swaying to the beat and letting the alcohol do the talking.

A body emerges from the crowd. It's blondie the song stealer who makes it his mission to see who is singing this tune. A familiar song. A song that brings up memories of what seems like a lifetime ago.

“So one last time I need to be the one who takes you home One more time I promise after that, I'll let you go”

I see who the song stealer is and I’m shocked. It all makes sense now.

“Baby I don't care if you got her in your heart All I really care is you wake up in my arms One last time I need to be the one who takes you home”

I stuff up the lyrics, lose my timing and am thankful for Madge who keeps up the pace. I match her, keep the pace and try to not think of the moment we last saw each other. That Saturday night in the car park behind the restaurant. That moment after graduation. The end of our uni chapter and the start of the rest of our lives.

We were going different ways, new careers and experiences to live. He was going back to his hometown to work in his parents' bakery while he painted and decorated the cakes. I had a local government job. We were living on opposite ends of the state. Separated by distance and long stretches of highway. We broke our promise to each other and we both knew our goodbye in the car park was goodbye.

I can feel the knot of anticipation in my stomach. I can feel his hands on my body. The feel of his lips on my own. My heartbeat pounding inside my chest. I can still feel the wetness of his tears that I wiped them away.

I can’t abandon ship just yet, despite the emotions taking over my body. I do my best to pull my composure together and finish the song without doing something stupid like cry.

I turn to Madge for the ending and sing it, focusing on her.

“One last time I need to be the one who takes you home”

“What the hell?” Madge asks me as she takes my hand and we head down the stairs of the stage.

"I don't know, but I need a bathroom."

“Come on.”

She sneaks me off to the ladies room away from him.

“Have I seen a ghost?” I ask her as I sit on the toilet seat.

“No.” Madge tells me.

"He stole my karaoke song." I say to Madge. She doesn't know of the significance of my karaoke list or how it was Peeta that introduced me to this song. "I mean, it's not my song, but he stole it from me. He knew."

"I don't think he knew you were here, Kat. I think it was just a coincidence.” She says to me through the stall. “Did you know he was travelling?”

"I did, but I didn't think he was here in Italy the same time as me. I thought he was doing his own thing and bumming around."

"He's a Career." Madge laughs.

"I can't believe he went travelling with the Careers when he could have been a tribute." I laugh. "Bloody Careers." It was a running joke among our group, especially when we ran into the Careers. There was a slight rivalry between the two travelling groups, and the Careers had a reputation compared to the tribute travellers.

I wash my hands, check my hair and makeup and inhale a deep breath.

“Time to face the music.” I exhale as Madge stands beside me.

“Let’s go.”

I hesitate for a moment but follow Madge out of the ladies towards the party. I scan the room for Peeta but am pulled around the corner and against the wall.

Peeta stands in front of me, just staring at me unsure if he’s seen a ghost or not.

“Katniss, you alright?” Madge asks me.

"I'm fine. I'll catch you later." I tell her, and she walks off to join our group. A few who watch with curious eyes at the blond stranger that's pushed me against a wall and standing inches away from my body.

“I wasn’t sure if it was you up there.” He finally gets out. “I thought someone must have spiked my drink or I was hallucinating.” He breathes out. “Am I dreaming?”

“No, you’re not.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” He smiles, biting his lip to stop the smile from growing too wide. He's like a schoolboy. A nervous schoolboy. The same nervous schoolboy that stood before me almost two years ago and poured out his heart to me. But I try not to think of that and instead focus on getting up him. “You arsehole, you stole my karaoke song.” I say, hitting his chest.

"In my defence, I didn't think you'd be here."

“You knew that was one of my songs.”

“And it’s been my song since we left each other.” He admits shyly to me with a tear escaping his eye.

I feel my heartbeat pick up as I stand in front of him. I can feel his pain, and despite the façade of him lapping up the attention, it hurts him to sing this song.

“How drunk are you?” I ask him.

“I picked the Disclosure version for a reason.” He tells me. “I’d be a ball of tears if I sang the acoustic version.”

“You’re still an arsehole for singing that song.”

“I’m sorry.” He smiles and chuckles slightly. “How can I make it up to you?”

“I think I should be asking you that question.”

He shakes his head. “Life happened, it was neither of our faults. I mean, I should have tried harder. I was scared. Scared of it not working and having a broken heart.”

“But isn’t having a broken heart count for something? Count for having a go?” I put to him.

“I’ve missed you so much, Katniss.” He tells me. “Come on, I owe you a drink.”

He buys us both a drink, and we stand off to the side where it’s a little quieter than at the tables in front of the stage.

Flashbacks from our last moments together fill my mind. The rain pouring. The bass of music coming from some club nearby. Roaming hands. Discarded clothes. Bare bodies. The leather of the backseat. Ragged breathing. Moans of pleasure.

His hand rests on my hip, his thumb drawing circles, reminiscent of that night. I can’t hold back the feelings for too much longer. I want him in my arms. Want him to cover my body with his own. Feel his lips on my own lips.

“Katniss, I should have tried harder. But you’ve been worth the wait. I made a pact with myself that when I returned home from this trip that I was going to throw all my cards on the table and see if you wanted to try dating. I’d have found a way to make it work. I’d relocate if it meant being with you.” He tells me. “If you’d allow it?”

“You still stole my karaoke song.” I tell him with a smirk.

"Well, I didn't know…"

“Shut up.”

“What?”

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

I lean up on my tiptoes, tired of playing games and initiate what I want. I've never been one to make the first move, but he is frustrating with nervous talking. I place my lips on his firmly, shutting him up.

“Oh.” He says swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Just kiss me.” I demand. “There’s time for talking later.”

He gets the idea and kisses me back, pushing me against the wall with his body pressing tightly against mine, as we get lost in the kiss. The feel of each other after two years.

“I’ve missed you so much.” I murmur against his lips.

“Me too.” He murmurs back as his lips trail across my cheek and my jaw.

I can hear our names being cheered from the tables in between karaoke songs and Peeta holds his middle finger up to them, which gets a round of applause and more cheering. I bury my face into his neck, and he just holds me in his arms.

“I do have one problem.” I whisper.

“And what is that?”

“You’re a Career.” I laugh as I appear from his neck.

“Guilty.” He admits, holding his hands up in the air. “Sorry, I was just following my mate.”

“I’ll let you off for now.” I warn him.

“I’m glad.” He smiles and leans his forehead against mine. “Am I still the arsehole who stole your karaoke song?”

“Yes.”

“Can I make it up to you with some gelato? I happen to know a place with the best gelato. It’s Nigella Lawson approved.”

“Well then, it must be good.” I smile. “Let me just tell my friend.”

“So, it went well with the arsehole who stole your karaoke song?” Madge laughs as I embrace her.

“Well, so far. He’s taking me for gelato.” I tell her. “Will you be right?”

"Yeah, I think everyone will be out for a while yet." She smiles. "And Gale promised to take me home when I was ready."

“Look after her.” I tell Gale.

“I will.”

“Promise me. She’s my best friend.”

“I pinkie promise.”

I smile at him and then at Madge. “I’ll message you when I’m heading home.”

She embraces me one last time. “Go, enjoy your gelato date with blondie the arsehole who stole your karaoke song.”

I smirk at her, grab my bag and say goodbye to my trip leader before I find Peeta and take his hand in mine.

…

Three years later

“I think I knew from that moment they left the bar together that I should start preparing my speech. I mean, they were making out against a wall and then left for gelato. I mean, what type of guy makes out with a girl for ten minutes then takes her out for gelato? Especially a 23-year-old male?” She laughs as she speaks to the room. “I knew that when she messaged me on her way back to the hostel at 6 am that it went well and that she didn't hate the arsehole who stole her karaoke song. She advises me there was no funny business that night. It is still up for discussion. Especially since she didn't show up at the hostel until that morning.” She laughs. “But we are here today, celebrating the marriage of them both so it must have gone very well." She laughs and turns to us, wiping the tears from her cheek. "I'm going to ruin my beautiful makeup." She laughs. I see the sparkle of the diamond on her ring finger and smile, cuddling up to Peeta even more. "That night, both of our lives changed. I mean not changed, the next chapter of our lives began. We thought those six weeks away was our life-changing experience, but it was those moments within our trip that started the next stage of our lives. Thank you for inviting me on that trip. It's a trip I'll cherish right until we're old and grey and surrounded by our grandchildren who ask how we met their grandfathers.” She smiles through the tears. “To my best friend, Katniss, may you’re life be filled with many great moments to come with the fellow who stole your karaoke song.” She laughs. “Cheers.”

I embrace Madge, kissing her cheek and thanking her.

"I now call Katniss and Peeta up who have a few words they'd like to say." Finnick calls for us.

I was stepping out of my comfort zone and speaking in front of everyone gathered here today. The room was made up with the close friends from our trips three years ago who we've stayed in contact with and many we've used to crash on their couches as we've done our travelling the last couple of years.

"Wow, this is fucking nerve-racking," I admit to everyone in the audience. "Sorry kids, Aunty Katniss didn't say a naughty word."

“She’s just a little drunk.” Peeta tells them all with a cheeky grin. His nieces and nephews sit front and centre with their mothers and laugh at me. I'm not drunk. Just my nervousness has gotten the better of me.

“Aunt Katniss.” Patrick exclaims, rolling his eyes. “Not again.”

This breaks the tension, and I’m silently thanking Peeta’s 9-year old nephew for helping us. "Thanks Pat." I wink at him. "Peeta and I would like to thank everyone for joining us tonight. We're fortunate to have so many people in our lives, and we're very grateful for you all making the effort and travelling far and wide to be here with us today. We both made some wonderful friends three years ago and its proof with you all being here today. Despite half of you being Careers." I laugh, taking a dig at Peeta.

“What Katniss means is that she’s just jealous she wasn’t a career.”

"Oh no, Tribute for life. Am I right?" I jab, getting a rise from my trip mates. "It's just a shame you weren't a tribute because we could have been a tribute love story.”

“Or a Career love story.” He shrugs. “Jokes and travel companies aside, we’re proof that both companies can get along and find love after putting our differences aside.” He smiles at me. “As most of you know, we met in Uni taking a stats class. Katniss who is hopeless with numbers begged me to be her tutor, and that began our story. Nothing too romantic just the typical boy meets girl at uni love story.” He laughs. "She got me a job at the Japanese restaurant where we usually ended our shifts with a round of karaoke. She had never sung in front of me, in those few months of studying together. The first time she did sing, I knew I was a goner. I swear the birds fell silent and that’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

I blush slightly and quickly find where I’m up to on the speech. He has gone off the speech. "Where am I up too?"

“Here.” He points.

“Yes. Right. We parted ways when uni finished. Our careers and lives were going in different directions. But three years ago, in a Florence restaurant, this guy was on my radar as the arsehole that stole my karaoke song, and I was going to hunt him during the night and maybe throw a beer over him. That was until he came out of the crowd and I realised who exactly it was. It wasn’t some arsehole; it was Peeta, Peeta who rated every song choice, who cheered for me every time I sang. The boy who introduced me to that very song so knew I couldn't be mad at him for too long. And I wasn't. It was like no time or distance had passed, and we were those two 21-year-olds working late at the Japanese restaurant who would laugh, sing and dance with each other." I say smiling.

“So in honour of our fabulous relationship and because we knew this wouldn’t be a party without some karaoke. Katniss and I will be singing the first song we sang together. This song came about hitting shuffle on the machine, and this is the song it came up with." He laughs. "So please enjoy a compilation of our relationship in film reel while we embarrassingly sing our duet song.”

His brother makes fast work of setting it all up with him ready to hit play on the instrumental version of our duet song and playing the video slideshow he made for us.

“You ready?” He asks me, lowering the microphone away from his mouth and squeezing my hand.

I nod with a wide smile. “Let’s do this.”

“Would you dance if I asked you to dance? Or would you run and never look back? Would you cry if you saw me crying? And would you save my soul tonight?”

We sing to our guests who cheer for us. There's a little bit of a medley within the song of our karaoke hits from Dancing Queen, to Disney classics, 90's rock, some recent pop songs, Elvis, 80's pop and then more of Hero before it fades into Under Pressure for a few beats before it turns more upbeat into the 90's tune of Ice Ice Baby.

“Yo, Katniss, let’s kick it.” Peeta sings pointing at me. He smiles widely because he knows we have pulled off the announcement.

“Our first baby. We’re announcing our first baby Our first baby We’re announcing our first baby’ We sing, Peeta caressing my stomach as our recent ultrasound picture appears at the end of the slideshow with the caption

‘Our karaoke duet is turning into a trio in early October'

We watch the reaction of our friends and family and Peeta whispers in my ear, with his arm around quickly before our family and friends surround us.

"Bet you're glad I'm the arsehole who stole your karaoke song?"

"Every day." I smile up at him and kiss the corner of his mouth just as I'm pulled into an embrace by my family.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #everlarkbirthdaydrabbles #everlarkbirthdaygifts #fan fic #by herainab

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wildlyglittering · 7 years ago

Text

Organising Myself

I am writing this mainly to fix my brain into my head and to try and:

a) remind myself of what I have written and;

b) record down my plans of what I aim to write

I am sort of hoping that by writing down b) and putting it out into the ether it will give me the much needed kick up the bum in terms of motivation to actually write the damn things. My rationale is that if it is out there then I am making a commitment to actually do it.

I have tons of ideas and some I may have to let slide but this is what I’ve done so far/ aim to do so far.

I’m only an itty bitty writer so I’m not expecting anyone to be interested (if you are then that will definitely help with the motivation) but this is more for well, organising myself and keeping myself on track.

I guess I sort of write for two fandoms now. Everything I post on Tumblr I also post on A03 here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writinginthedust

So, here is what I have written. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

Everlark

Four drabbles written as part of D12 Drabbles:-

Before the Moment - "Suitcase” prompt

In Reverse - “First Date” prompt

Once - “Caught red handed” prompt

The Wedding - “Wedding” prompt

One submission to The Everlark Games Christmas Challenge 2016. It won, so that is awesome!

The Christmas Gift

Four pieces for Everlark Birthday Gifts:-

The Things We Do For Love - arranged marriage request

Two for Two - fluff piece request

Into the Woods - smut request

Christmas Countdown - Everlark with toddlers request

Four (it seems to be the magic number) drabbles, imaginatively titled. Seriously, if someone wants to help me title those darn things let me know.

Untitled Drabble #1 - an Everlark one night stand that doesn’t go as expected

Untitled Drabble #2 - a Father’s Day themed drabble

Untitled Drabble #3 - where Peeta really doesn’t want to be living in his parent’s basement anymore

Untitled Drabble #4 - based on the prompt ‘you’ve moved into the house next to my mom’s and she has you doing her housework.’

Nessian

The Threads That Bind Us - based off the idea that Cassian is being introduced to Nesta’s existence one painful moment at a time

To the Victor the Spoils - Cassian’s experiences in the Illyrian training camps

In the Darkness of the Sea - a Nesta angst piece reflecting on what it was like in the cauldron

Amongst the Archives - when Feyre and Rhys start reading notes from Cassian to Nesta that really aren’t intended for their eyes

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know - Cassian and the entirety of the universe work something out before Nesta does

So, here are my plans. Plans I am desperate to commit to and so by writing this down for the eyes of others to see I am hoping it will keep me on the path! Obviously more may get added on because I am An Idiot.

In no particular order:

Everlark

Untitled Drabble - based on prompt ‘my kid just shot a bottle rocket into your window’

Untitled Drabble - based on prompt ‘we’re both in the vegetable aisle and I just burst into tears while staring at the cabbages’

Artemis Rising - artist Peeta and gallery visitor Katniss, where some of the pieces look a little familiar to her eyes...

What Goes Around - technically this is something I started for Everlark fic exchange based on a college AU prompt. My plan is to definitely continue this one!

Reformation - gain something I started for the Everlark fic exchange based on an Everlark historical AU. I have this outlined out, I just need to write it!

Trick or Treat - continuation of something I wrote for Halloween a couple of years ago

Untitled WIP - based on victor Peeta and seam Katniss married to Gale

The Wrong Boy - Katniss making choices. Or not.

Untitled Drabble #4 continuation - I’m gonna do it

Everlark Birthday Gift for September - I’m actually gonna have to do it

Christmas Everlark Piece for 2018- so far I have done something for Everlark each Christmas and I don’t want to stop now

Nessian

TBC #1 - a destructive Nesta POV piece

TBC #2 - pregnant Nesta where Cassian isn’t taking the news as well as could be expected...

TBC #3 - Azriel and Nesta as friends, based on a prompt from a while ago

Surprise Party - yep. Where everyone gets a surprise. Modern au.

The Six That Came Before - Cassian reflection on the six women that came into Cassian’s life

Untitled WIP - modern au where Cassian and Nesta are exes and Cassian starts seeing someone new

Mile High - a modern au with Cassian as a pilot & Nesta as one of his first class passengers

In the Garden, Among the Flowers - Nessian viewed through the eyes of others

It doesn’t seem like a lot but it feels like a lot especially as I take about a trillion years to do anything.

I am desperately trying to get back into the writing malarkey and will also take any prompts if anyone wants me to write anything as it might just inspire me!

#my writing #fan fiction #drabbles #everlark #nessian

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lemonluvgirl · 3 years ago

Text

Valentine’s Day Short

(A Christmas for 3 Outtake)

Rating: E

Here’s a little Everlark P+K+P holiday outtake! Hope you all like it! Thank you to @heathersaid for coming in last minute to beta on this! You’re awesome heather! Also read on AO3 as part of the Everlark for 3 series!

Peeta tapped nervously on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to turn red. He glanced at the clock on the dash. The time was 6:22.

He was already more than twenty minutes late. His girlfriend was going to be upset.

The light turned green an eternity later and he continued to drive. He had to remind himself not to speed. He didn't want to be delayed further by getting a ticket, and his drive home was full of speed traps.

Five minutes later he pulled up to the small green American craftsman, still covered in a hearty dusting of February snow, that he now called home. He had moved in a little over a month ago. At first it had been strange not living above the bakery anymore. It added an extra fifteen minutes to his morning routine. And another fifteen minutes coming home.

Peeta put the car in park and turned off the engine. He pulled his coat on in a hurry, grabbed his belongings, and practically bounded out of the car and up to the front door. He wasn’t particularly fond of the lengthened wait time he had to endure before he could get home and relax.

He slipped his key into the lock one-handed as he balanced the large box of Valentine’s day specialty cakes (that would hopefully be welcome surprises), and opened the door with barely contained excitement. He had spent an inordinate amount of time baking and decorating them to resemble boxes of Valentine's day chocolates.

He had been looking forward to coming home all day, and revealing the cakes, so those extra fifteen minutes on top of having to close late had really gotten on his nerves during the drive home.

But there were benefits. Sometimes the added time helped build up anticipation when he was coming home. Like right now. He had been planning this Valentine’s Day celebration for weeks. He had hoped to be here in time to help with dinner, but he guessed that was probably hoping for too much.

Peeta shrugged out of his coat and hung it up on the coat rack. The house was pleasantly warm and it smelled like something good was cooking but he didn't hear the tell-tale hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen. He guessed he had missed his chance to help cook. Peeta sighed inwardly, hating that on Valentine's day of all days he hadn't been able to whip up something special for his heart's true love.

He was setting the cake box down on the coffee table when he heard some small sounds floating in from the kitchen. It sounded like his girlfriend’s voice, but it was a tad too breathy and high to be coming from a regular conversation.

In fact, he couldn’t make out any words.It was just a jumble of vowels strung together.

Peeta crept up as quietly as he could, which for him wasn’t very quiet. But she must have been too wrapped up in whatever she was doing because she didn’t hear him enter the kitchen at all.

Katniss was pushed up against the fridge, the cute little red dress with a floral print she was wearing was rucked up around her waist, exposing miles of her smooth, well-shaped, tan legs. Her head was thrown back, her mouth slightly open as she moaned. Peeta’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Oh, yeah, right there babe!” she cried as she got her neck nibbled on, at the same time she was getting fingered into oblivion.

Peeta stood there and just watched for a minute as a head of blond, slicked-back, ashen waves, belonging to the man who was kissing and fingering Katniss, traveled lower, pulling one of the little ties of her dress’s shoulder straps undone with his teeth so he could kiss the skin at her collarbone and the rounded tops of her breasts. There was a nice high blush settling over her chest. Her thighs were trembling already, which meant she was close. Peeta wondered how long they had been at it.

He surveyed the rest of the kitchen quickly. There were remnants of a meal cooked and already plated, probably tucked away in the warming tray under the oven. Katniss' black little high heels lay discarded on the floor, one near the kitchen island, and one near the fridge right next to the leg of the gray sweatpants the blond guy had on.

Peeta took him in for a moment. He was average height, but stocky and well-built. His shoulders and arms were well-developed and could be seen straining through the fabric of the comfortable white t-shirt he was wearing. His waist was trim, and he had a decent looking ass for a guy. Peeta wondered for a minute if his ass was as nicely rounded and firm as the other man's.

“Looks like you started without me,” Peeta announced loudly, interrupting them.

Katniss’ pretty gray eyes opened and took in the sight of Peeta standing in the doorway. They flashed like something hot, the look shooting right through him.

“You’re late,” Katniss replied, a hint of annoyance showing through in her voice.

“Really late,” his brother Piers added as he looked at Peeta over his shoulder, right before turning around and lowering his mouth to Katniss’ chest, nosing down the front of her dress slowly to expose more of her.

“It's Valentine’s Day. The bakery was swamped,” Peeta said in explanation, his eyes glued to the swath of tantalizing golden skin that was being revealed inch-by-inch as his brother continued his exploration of their girlfriend’s beautiful body. The other tie came undone underneath Piers’ fingers, and Peeta swore when he realized what was under her red dress.

She wasn’t even wearing a bra, for goodness sake. Katniss didn’t respond to Peeta’s excuse, instead she just let out a low moan as Piers’ tongue darted out to tease her already hard nipple. Then, a second later, Piers ripped off her tiny, red lacy underwear and threw them in Peeta’s direction.

Peeta felt a rush of blood travel through him, as he caught the underwear in hand. He didn’t feel embarrassed when he brought them up to his face to inhale his girlfriend’s scent. She smelled delicious, and she was very wet judging by the state of her panties, and the little sounds she was letting out as Piers worked her into a frenzy. The sight and the smell of her got him hard fast.

Even after all these months it was still shocking the way his body reacted to seeing his brother’s hands and mouth on the woman he loved. Instead of jealousy, he felt his heart pick up and start racing. His eyes widened to take in the sight of Katniss being turned on, and getting off to his twin brother’s ministrations. Just a minute later, Katniss was shaking and panting as her first orgasm of the night rushed through her.

“Fuck, you guys couldn’t wait 20 minutes?” Peeta asked, in a voice that betrayed how hot and bothered he was. Usually he liked to be the one to make Katniss come first with his hand, Piers usually liked to use his mouth on her. Peeta knew they were doing this on purpose.

“You couldn’t have Antonio close up? Like you said you would? He doesn’t even have a date for Valentines!” Katniss finally spoke up as she gripped the back of Piers' neck and held his face securely to her breast. She began to rock her hips against his hand, shamelessly wringing out a few aftershocks.

The sight was so erotic, and her voice was so gruff with arousal and anger that Peeta began to peel away his clothes. His aching cock was straining hard against the material of his slacks and begged for release.

“He found one last minute, so I told him I’d close,” Peeta mumbled as he unbuttoned his shirt. He fumbled with a few buttons when Piers switched his mouth to Katniss’ other breast and she cried out sharply, throwing her head back against the fridge in ecstasy.

Piers’ chuckled a second later. “Bro, how many times do I have to tell you? You are too nice for your own damn good,” Piers added before going back to licking and sucking on Katniss’ perfect tits.

Peeta couldn’t help but agree internally, but outwardly he simply groaned. Watching Katniss and Piers was a certain form of torture. He wanted nothing more than to shuck his clothes and join them in their sexy foreplay.

But Katniss fixed him with a stare that had him stopping in his tracks.

“Just watch for now Peeta. No touching. That’s your punishment for making me and Piers’ wait for you on our first Valentine’s day together,” she ordered, and even though it chapped his hide to not be able to close the distance and suck one of her beautiful breasts into his mouth, or join his finger alongside his brother’s and plunge into her tight, wet heat, Peeta made himself hold back.

He looked back at Katniss with a displeased expression, but nodded. Instead of touching her, he settled for unzipping his slacks and pulling out his already rock hard shaft. He made a few lazy passes over the length, and twisted his wrist slightly before closing his hand around the head of his already weeping cock. Katniss watched him with lust-hooded eyes and licked her lips deliberately.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” Peeta hissed out as he stroked himself slightly faster.

“Ohhh--mmm!” Katniss moaned as she started to rotate her hips and grind down onto Piers’ hand, which elicited another tortured groan from Peeta. Nothing got him off faster than watching Katniss build higher and higher until she finally came.

“I love it when you make him lose control, Sweetheart,” Piers murmured as he added another finger and began to tweak Katniss’ nipple with his other hand. Piers returned his mouth to Katniss’ breast, and a moment later, she started arching her back and panting his name, all while locking gazes with Peeta as he pumped his cock in hand.

Peeta tried to sync up his rhythm with Katniss and Piers, and when he finally got it down, Katniss was calling his name too as she writhed against the door of the fridge while Piers held her up.

“Please, I want you inside me! Piers, fuck me from behind!” Katniss wailed, her eyes scrunching tightly closed and her whole body tensing. Piers wasted no time spinning Katniss around and lowering the waistband of his gray sweatpants to let his hardened dick spring free. In one smooth fluid motion, he spread Katniss’ legs and plunged into her, eliciting a strangled cry on her behalf that was so suffused with pleasure Peeta felt a shooting spark of heat travel down his spine, in what he knew was the first sign of his own orgasm.

Peeta had been holding back, but at the sound of Katniss’ imminent climax, he began to feel strained. He could tell by the way Piers’ was grunting as he fucked their girlfriend hard and fast that his twin was close to his own release as well.

“Yes!” Katniss screamed, and then Peeta saw her whole body shudder and he knew that was it.

“Oh, fuck baby, just like that! Come on my cock!” Piers shouted, as he rocked into Katniss from behind. The sight of Piers getting off on what was no doubt a spectacular one of Katniss’ orgasms almost made Peeta lose it, but he held on.

“That was so damn good,” Piers said after his orgasm had dissipated. He pulled away from Katniss and she whimpered at the loss of him. He just pulled off his shirt and used it to gently swipe at their combined fluids, which had begun to trickle down her golden-colored thighs.

“It's ok, Sweetheart, I’ll be back for you before you know it. But Peeta’s still hard, Honey, and I don’t think you’re mad at him anymore, now that you’ve come a couple times, huh?” Piers asked gently as he pressed a kiss to Katniss’ bare shoulder. When Piers looked over his shoulder at his brother, he had an amused smirk on his identically handsome face.

Peeta almost rolled his eyes at Piers’ cocky grin, but he didn’t. If he hadn’t been late, Katniss would have no doubt offered to take him in her mouth while Piers fucked her, and all three of them would have come by now.

Katniss turned around to kiss Piers on the lips deeply, and Peeta watched in fascination as their tongues tangled together.

Finally, they broke apart and Katniss let out a breathy sigh. Piers stepped away then, and Katniss turned to Peeta and held her arms out. Gone was the look of annoyance. Instead it was replaced with longing. Peeta went to her immediately.

“We really missed you. And we had no idea if we added the right amount of white wine to the sauce. And we didn’t know if it was okay to substitute canned sundried tomatoes instead of organic ones—” Katniss began to complain sullenly. Peeta brushed her dark brown hair back from her face lovingly. She sometimes had a hard time verbalizing her feelings, and often her knee-jerk response was annoyance or even anger. But once she processed her feelings, she was often very sweet.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure whatever you and Piers cooked it will be just lovely,” Peeta replied, before he couldn’t resist going in for a kiss.

Katniss let out a wonderful sound that was akin to a purr and Peeta slanted his mouth over hers at an angle to deepen the kiss. Katniss reached down gently to run her hand over the length of his erection and Peeta moaned into her mouth.

“You’re just saying that because you want to come inside me,” Katniss challenged and Peeta shook his head.

“No, I know Piers doesn't enjoy cooking as much as I do, but he’s damn good in the kitchen in a pinch,” Peeta said with a small strained chuckle as Katniss continued to slowly stroke his dick. He didn’t bother to try and say he didn’t want to come inside her because that just wasn’t true. He always wanted to come inside her. But that wasn’t why he had said what he said.

“Oh, so if it's good it's only because of Piers?” Katniss asked, pulling away from him a little. Peeta shook his head, slightly aggravated.

“No, I just meant I knew you were in excellent hands if I couldn’t be here to help you,” Peeta replied, stepping towards her again and kissing up the side of her neck.

“Hmm, yes he did come in handy while you were busy closing up for the fifth time this week,” Katniss replied playfully, looking over at Piers who shot her a lascivious grin. He had already pulled his pants back up and was simply watching the two of them flirt and argue.

“Oh, come on Katniss. I’m sorry, okay? I should have made Antonio close like we agreed. There? Happy now?” Peeta said as he nuzzled his nose against her cheek, breathing in her wild clean scent. She smelled like a field of wildflowers.

“No. I won’t be happy until I have your hard, thick cock pounding me until I come again Peeta. It's the least you can do to make up for being late to our Valentine's dinner,” Katniss replied as she tiptoed up and took his earlobe in her mouth, biting down just hard enough to send a shockwave of pain-laced pleasure to his dick. Peeta gasped out a curse as he pulled her closer to his body.

“Is that the apology you really want, my love? No problem. How do you want it? From behind again, against the fridge?” Peeta asked, his voice thick with desire.

“Against the fridge, yes. But not from behind, I want to watch you. So you better pick me up,” Katniss ordered, and Peeta didn’t hesitate to comply. He kicked his pants the rest of the way off. Then he hoisted her up and let her wrap her slim legs around his torso, enjoying the warm wetness of her center pressed against his abdomen. He carried her on sure feet and pressed her back against the fridge. She shivered delightfully in his arms. Peeta licked his lips.

“You know you looked so desperate a minute ago that I really thought you were gonna fuck her with your work slacks around your ankles bro,” Piers commented with a chuckle as he leaned back against the counter.

“Well, you both made it look so incredible. And you didn’t even take your clothes all the way off. Love this red dress by the way,” Peeta told his twin and then complimented Katniss with a smile.

“I hoped you would both like it,” Katniss replied as she fiddled with the strap that had come undone. The top of her dress was still pulled down haphazardly, her tan breasts topped with terracotta-colored nipples strained against the cool air of the kitchen. Peeta stared at her, drinking in the gorgeous sight, his thumbs gently brushing against her sides.

“I think it's safe to assume by the automatic boners you gave both of us that Peeta and I like the dress, Sweetheart. You know, I never thought we’d like the same girl, much less share a girlfriend at the same time. But life is full of surprises,” Piers said with quiet amusement.

“Both of you, less talking more sexing please,” Katniss interrupted and Peeta and Piers both laughed. They often joked that Katniss had a one-track mind. Peeta leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

“I missed you too,” he said quietly. Katniss smiled a little against his lips before pouncing on his mouth. She threw herself into the kiss wholeheartedly, and it made Peeta’s heart swell with love. It made another part of him swell also.

She rubbed herself against him, her molten core lighting him up from within, as Peeta rutted his hard cock along the underside of her ass, grazing the swell of her cheeks. He wanted nothing more than to watch her face as she climaxed, and fill her up with his cum before they all sat down to a nice Valentine’s dinner.

Katniss pulled him closer and removed her mouth from his so she could begin trailing kisses across his jaw, while her hands roamed across his shoulders and chest. Peeta shifted their bodies to try and align his erection with her entrance.

“Yes, please Peeta,” Katniss panted in his ear, and Peeta breathed her name once before plunging into her.

“Fuck! Yes!” Katniss cried, her nails digging into his back as he held still for a moment, just basking in the feeling of her wrapped around him. She pushed her hips forward, encouraging him to move. When Peeta did, he groaned as he withdrew almost all the way out and pushed into her again.

“You feel amazing. You’re amazing,” Peeta murmured in between thrusts, his pace picking up. Katniss encouraged him loudly to go faster and harder as she held onto his shoulders and they rocked the fridge slightly.

“Just a little more, just-just-ahh!” Katniss cried, one hand fisting in Peeta’s hair as he tried to maintain control so she could come again.

He would have reached down to circle her clit, but he was using both hands to hold her up as he pounded into her. So instead she snaked her own hand down in between their bodies and began to touch herself in time with their rhythm. Her moans became more urgent, and so did the driving of Peeta’s hips.

Peeta watched as her eyes widened for a split second, then snapped closed before she threw her head back, her dark hair wild and mussed looking against the stainless steel door of the fridge, her breasts bouncing erotically as her inner muscles started to spasm around his cock. She looked prettier than a painting.

“Peeta!” she gasped, eyes still closed. He instinctively slowed his pace but deepend his strokes, letting her ride her orgasm out slowly.

“There you go, Sweetheart, come for me. Just like that. You’re fucking gorgeous when you loose it while I’m inside you,” Peeta told her as he gripped her ass tighter, plunging into her again, over and over, as she mewled and writhed against him. He could still feel her pulsing around him, pulling him in deeper and massaging his cock so wonderfully.

“You’re milking me, Sweetheart, I love your cunt! Fuck! I’m gonna fill you up now, okay?” Peeta told her and she nodded frantically.

“Come inside me, Peeta. I want to watch your face when you do!” she said just before biting down on his left shoulder.

“Oh, God!” Peeta gasped as his rhythmic thrusts faltered and he slowed, almost to a stand still. Katniss lifted her hands to his face and caressed the sides of his cheeks. He knew she was watching him, even though he had his eyes closed from the overwhelming pleasure. He pushed into her, once, twice, and then he came. He opened his eyes and her liquid-silver stare locked onto his blue gaze as he painted her soft warmth with his hot cum, and spent himself until he was empty.

It took them both a minute to come down from their high. All the while Peeta was murmuring he loved her quietly as he pressed his forehead against hers. Katniss kissed him softly and smiled at him, until finally he began to grow soft and he had to withdraw from her body.

Piers grinned at them and handed them his t-shirt so they could clean up a bit.

“That was hot,” Piers told Katniss as he helped her fix her dress and retie her straps.

“It was a fun way to kick off Valentine's night,” Katniss agreed with a cheeky laugh before swaying up on her tiptoes and kissing Piers’ nose. Piers laughed then, a wonderfully light and happy sound, and Peeta smiled at both of them.

The two people he loved most in the world, who also loved him.

Peeta was sure, right at that moment, that even if their dinner was a bit cold, and Piers would have to go looking for a clean shirt somewhere, that it was going to be the best Valentine’s day he had ever had.

#Everlark!Threesome #Everlark for 3 #Twins!Peeta #katnissSandwhich #everlarksmut #shamelesssmut #threesomesmut #valentine's day #fanfiction

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sparklingdust4612 · 4 years ago

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📓 🎤

1- Hmm... I was planning on trying my hand at more everlark but maybe, Pilot!Peeta and Everlark joining the mile high club lol.

2- “I don’t love you more than coffee. I love you more than coffee, and cheesebuns AND hot chocolate. What I am trying to say is, I love you more than anything in the world, fame, money, food and everything and everyone except Prim, ha-ha because yea, we all know I love her a lot too and…please ignore me I am rambling,” she flushes and starts picking at her skirt. (From my shortfic, No One But You, because I decided to pick it from an Everlark I wrote lol)

This came from this post.

#ask #endlessnightlock #asked and answered #ask game #writer ask game

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papofglencoe · 8 years ago

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I want to second peetaspikelets and badnovels. The first story of yours I read was Mile High and I was blown away by how you really got into your characters' head/heart. Ah, the angst and the smut. So that is a very special one for me as it opened the way to Errata, Against the Wall, Basic Training, And Out Come the Wolves, Pumpkin Spice, Bullseye, Bros before Ho Ho Hos! and everything in between. I love everything you write but my heart bleeds for Errata's & AOCTW's Katniss and ATW's Peeta.

😭😭😭 I am speechless, my friend. Thank you so much for this... I got this message from you while I was on the road, and I was hoping that if I stewed in it for a little bit I’d come up with some intelligible way to express my gratitude. Nope. Turns out I’m still as dumbstruck now as I was then. But I just want you to know how incredibly grateful and humbled I am that you’ve read all these stories... I’d be thankful if you’d read just one. So thank you for that, with all my heart. And thank you for holding a special place in your heart for Errata’s and Wolves’ Katniss and ATW’s Everlark. Those are the three stories of mine I have some hopes to continue as originals (with much, much revision, of course). As soon as I wrap up ATW, my plan is to get cracking writing Wolves as an original, where it can have (hopefully) a little oxygen to breathe. Anyway, much love to you, and thank you so much for the support and encouragement you’ve given me!

#you're the best #I have a screenshot of this on my desk for inspiration #I feel like I am so indebted to you #cowrintimrousbeastie

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everlarkbirthdaydrabbles · 8 years ago

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What you guys do on this site is amazing! I'm impressed with each fic that you write! I don't know if i'm sending this too early, but my birthday is on February 28th. I have a few favorite tropes: best friends to lovers and arranged marriage. Either one with a M rating would be awesome. Thank you! :)

Wishing to the happiest of birthday! To help celebrate in style, the lovely @thegirlfromoverthepond has written this wonderful bit of Everlark, just for you! Enjoy!

Someday My Prince Will Come ….

rated M

A/N: Happy Birthday :)

My deepest thanks to @xerxia31 and dandelion-sunset who did a great job at betaing this piece :)

Katniss looked at herself in the mirror, surprised by the reflection in front of her. Instead of the simple dresses she usually wore, she was in full princess attire - tiara included. The grey of her dress complimented her olive skin, the beaded appliques on the top of the bust and the bottom of the bodice making her eyes shine more than usual. The slim fit of the garment embraced her body, highlighting her thin frame, leaving her long arms free of fabric for now. But she knew she would have to cover her shoulders before leaving her bedroom. This wasn’t a ball she was heading to.

Moving was difficult, as she had trouble realizing it was herself she was seeing. She could recognize her features under the carefully coiffed couron of hair on her head - so different from her signature braid - on which her tiara was resting, sparkling with dozens of diamonds.

Her princess tiara.

It was easy, usually, to forget she was Katniss of Everdeen, eldest daughter of King James and Queen Annabelle, that the weight of an entire kingdom would rest on her shoulders one day.

And that this new life was starting this precise day.

Today was the day she would meet her future husband, the one her parents had carefully chosen for her when she was a child, and to whom she had been betrothed since her third birthday.

All she knew was his name. Prince Pietro of Misthaven, a realm located north of her own kingdom. A realm with which an alliance would grant them an access to the sea.

Nobody ever asked her whether or not she would agree to that marriage. She had no choice.

Yes, she had thought of running away, of losing herself in her beloved woods - but to what end? The Guard would come looking for her and eventually find her. Wasn’t her cousin, Gale - now the Head of the Royal Foot Guard - the one who taught her everything she knew about the woods?

What made her stay, though, wasn’t the absolute certainty that there would be no escape in running. Rather, it was the absolute certainty that her little sister wasn’t cut out to rule the kingdom one day. Primrose was everything a princess ought to be. Gracious, beautiful, kind and caring, an accomplished dancer, able to maintain discussions on boring topics for hours, blonde with blue eyes, everything Katniss was not.

But Primrose had her head full of flowers and plants, following in the Queen’s footsteps, learning the best way to take care of the kingdom, studying with the most prestigious doctors of the realm, leaving all the power to her sister.

It broke Katniss’s heart to think of her little sister having to step onto the Throne of Wood reluctantly. So she had caved, years and years ago, accepting her fate in silence, head held high.

As she took one last glance at herself in the mirror, she noticed her hands were shaking, her eyes were sparkling with tears, her lower lip bitten by her teeth. She jumped when there was a knock on the door.

“Princess, they are waiting for you….” Effie’s voice, coming from the other side of the heavy wooden door brought Katniss back to her Princess duties - her family was waiting for her, along with Prince Pietro and all of his entourage.

She took a last breath, released her lip from her teeth before starting to move out of the room, pretending her knees weren’t shaking, pretending her heart wasn’t galloping. She knew by the end of the day her life would be tied to Prince Pietro. Someone she didn’t know at all, someone she knew she couldn’t love.

Because her heart already belonged to someone else.

Her heart belonged to someone she had never ever met, but whose words had been by her side since she was old enough to read and write. The son of a baker, her pen friend, who didn’t even know she was a princess. Peeta. The man she would never be free to love.

Katniss opened the door, facing her lady in waiting. “Your Highness, you are absolutely stunning…” Effie’s voice was laced with amazement, her eyes shining in the light coming through the large windows of the castle.

“Thank you, Effie.” Katniss took in a deep breath. “Mother and Father are waiting for us already?”

Effie took a watch out of a small pouch at her waist, checking the time before smiling slightly.

“We are a little ahead of schedule, my lady. We have twelve minutes before you have to be in the Grand Hall, so unlike so many other times, we can walk there.” She emphasized the word walk, in an umpteenth attempt to let Katniss know her wanderings in the halls weren’t a secret. “Because really, you’re a lady now, Your Highness, and running around the castle…. tsk tsk.”

Effie’s playful tone, nor the sound of her heels on the hardwood floors, could turn Katniss’s attention from what was waiting for her in the Grand Hall. Her future husband, the future of two kingdoms, the possibility of peace for decades to come - all of this weighed on her shoulders as she neared the doors.

After a quick curtsy, Effie escaped, leaving Katniss alone to face her fate.

The doors opened without creaking, she noticed. The Chamberlain had finally gotten the message, she thought as she looked straight ahead, avoiding glancing at the man opening the door for her. It wasn’t the time to give a show and wink at Haymitch.

“Her Royal Highness, Katniss of Everdeen!” The loud voice of the Herald echoed in the suddenly silent hall.

All the families present turned in the direction of the doors, the ones closer to it curtsying immediately as Katniss started to walk.

Slow, kick. Slow, kick, the words were on her mind, on repeat as she walked on her heels, careful not to trip on the magnificent fabric of her dress and make a fool of herself.

Her parents’ thrones seemed so far away, the walk an endless wave of silk as the barons and marquises bent down as she passed. Katniss kept her eyes focused on her relatives, pretending not to notice the young women her age with too much cleavage, or too much make up, who were there to find a husband - while she wanted nothing more than to not marry.

Slow, kick. Slow, kick. The litany was on a loop in her head, the soothing rhythm of the words keeping her from running out of the too crowded room, running from all of the people looking at her, looking for failure.

Soon enough though, she reached her family, curtsying in front of her parents, before moving to her father’s left, to her designed seat, noticing how Prim came from the shadows to sit on her own, next to Katniss.

“Let us welcome Prince Pietro of Misthaven and his entourage!” The loud voice of the Herald echoed in the hall.

For Katniss, time froze. She was about to see her future husband for the first time, her mind was running a mile a minute as she wondered what to expect. Would he be tall and dark like her cousin Gale? Maybe red-haired like Lord Finnick? Would he stand tall like her father or - a thought crossed her mind - the image of Peeta she had made up in her mind as she looked at the Chamberlain by the door who moved away, leaving the entrance free.

She couldn’t help the motion of her hand as it flew to her mouth, her eyes taking the newcomer in. Neither too tall nor too short, a man of medium height was standing there, looking straight at her.

Blue. That’s all Katniss could think of as she took him in. Blue, like the color of his eyes, clear blue like the sky above her lake, as they looked straight into hers. Blue that seemed to engulf her completely, that seemed to be looking straight into her soul, that could pass all the barriers she had erected in the blink of an eye.

He started to walk forward, never breaking the connection between their eyes, never once looking away from her, never acknowledging the other women in the room - her mother included.

“Katniss, he’s… handsome!”

Prim’s voice broke the spell between Katniss and Prince Pietro, and she turned to her little sister.

“What? Prim?!”

“It’s true, sister dear. You’re lucky your lover is that good looking!”

“He’s not my lover!” No, that title belonged to someone else, someone she’d never have, Katniss thought, still looking at Prince Pietro walking towards them. ”He’s just my betrothed….”

“Same old, Kat. You’re going to end up married to him….”

As much as she wanted to deny it, Katniss knew her sister was right. In a few months she would be married to the Prince, whose hair shone like gold, but who wasn’t the kind baker boy who made her laugh.

–

They didn’t know each other at all, having been thrown into a union they didn’t want - or at least that Katniss didn’t want - to protect the peace of their kingdoms, without anybody asking them how they felt about marrying each other. Her parents kept repeating how well their arranged wedding had worked for them, how they fell in love with each other over time - but Katniss doubted that would happen to her.Katniss now had to face the next challenge in her life - getting to know the man she would share the burden of power with.He was easygoing and kind, Katniss discovered, as she spent more and more time with him, getting acquainted with each other, as per their parents’ requests. They started taking walks. Around the grounds to begin with, never leaving the castle’s courtyard, then walks in the garden, duly chaperoned by Effie and Pietro’s lieutenant. Walks where they barely talked, as if the difference between them was too big to be bridged so easily. Sometimes Prim would join them. Prim, who was eager to show the Prince the small place where they grew medicinal herbs, talking to him more in an hour than Katniss had in a week. Sometimes, it was only the two of them, walking slowly, with Katniss pretending to be interested in whatever flower was in front of her in order to hide her shyness. Because what exactly could she talk to Prince Pietro about? He was radiant like the sun, catching the light the same way she attracted the shadows, friendly where she was reserved. He, of course, was the one who always tried to start conversations while she kept her head bent, looking at the flowers, nodding from time to time.Until the day he made her laugh for the first time.It started with a walk, like every other day. He was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, like every other day, his trusty lieutenant, Thresh, by his side. He smiled as soon as he saw her, extending his hand to help her take the last steps, though she refused, as always, not yet ready for that level of intimacy.Like every other day, they started walking around the garden, taking one of the now familiar paths, Thresh and Effie talking quietly a few yards behind them.Unlike any other day, though, Pietro leaned towards Katniss, lowering his head close to her ear before whispering “Wouldn’t you like to run away from them, Your Highness?”Katniss stopped dead in her tracks, shocked by Pietro’s words. “You can’t be serious, Prince Pietro?”“Oh, I am. I don’t know about you, but I just can’t spend another afternoon looking at these flowers. Have you ever been to the woods?”Had she been? She could feel the smile starting to tug at her lips.“You have no idea….” He couldn’t know, couldn’t know that under the princess dresses and tiaras was a tomboy who would rather spend her days in the woods, hunting with her bow and arrows instead of learning how to waltz or sew.He laughed then, before turning quickly to check on their escorts.“Do you know a place where we could go? I’m tired of the garden,” he asked, a spark in his eyes.She knew exactly where they could go - there was thicket of trees nearby where she used to hide when she was little - but would she dare to? Something in her was so willing to go and hide away from all the decorum, the etiquette, from Effie - even if it was just for a few minutes.She nodded.Peeta leaned a bit closer to her but leaving enough space between them as the conventions dictated, whispering, “Then let’s go…” He held his hand out to her, inviting, his eyes twinkling, bluer than the sky above.She thought about not taking it, about continuing their walk along the neatly cut rows of boxwoods, gushing about the roses or whatever flowers were displayed in front of them, risking once more hours of boredom. Or she could take his hand, take a chance at something else - if she didn’t like it, they could resume their wanderings in the gardens the day after.She glanced over her shoulder, noticed the chaperones were both looking at the castle behind them, and took her chance.Grabbing his hand in her left, her dress in the right, she started running through the grass, making a beeline for the trees.Pietro followed her easily, but for his heavy footfalls that would surely get them caught if their escorts weren’t too far away to hear already.“Here,” she said, dragging him behind a bush, urging him to kneel besides her. “Stay still,” she whispered, “or they’ll see us. You don’t camouflage well…”“What do you mean? I can hide pretty well!”“In a blue and gold vest? In the woods? Maybe in the middle of a ball, but not here, your Highness.”“Pietro.” “Um?” Katniss asked, looking through the branches for any sign of Effie or Thresh.“My name is Pietro,” he said again, as his hand went to his hair, his fingers combing through the unruly curls. “I thought when it’s, well, just the two of us… maybe we can dispense with all the formality?”She wasn’t sure she should agree - it seemed too familiar - but as Pietro started to open his mouth to talk again, Katniss spotted a bit of purple moving, a sure sign Effie was looking for them.Out of reflex, her hand went to his mouth, preventing any sound from escaping, preventing them from being caught. She lowered her voice to a bare whisper, leaning into him to breathe in his ear. “I hope your bodyguard isn’t as bad as Effie at finding people…”She felt his lips move on her palm, warm and wet against her cold hand, making her almost shiver.Almost.She turned to look at him.He winked.The asshole. And yes, thank you very much, she knew that as a princess, she shouldn’t even know that word existed. She guessed having a cousin in the Guard did expand her vocabulary, after all.He lifted his hand, taking hers away from his mouth, before whispering. “I chose Thresh for a reason. He can’t see a stag in front of him without his glasses.”“But he doesn’t wear glasses?”“Exactly,” Pietro winked before slowly peeking above the bush. “They’re not here anymore. So, where do we go now?”“Follow me - and don’t make so much noise when you walk, Your Highness.”“Pietro.”“Right. So, move, Your Highness Pietro!”He just laughed. Laughed. As if she had said something funny.She grabbed her dress, freeing her legs a little so she could walk more easily in the woods, and turned from His Highness, heading straight to the path she knew so well, leading her to her favorite place. Why she wanted to share it with him was beyond her - the only other person who knew about this lake was Peeta, her now-lost friend. Because, really, how could she explain to her soon-to-be husband that she was in love with someone else? “Well, Princess, where are we heading to?”She considered answering him, she really did. But she was pretty sure Effie was on a mission to find them, alerting the guard - their time was already limited. She couldn’t afford to waste any on words.So, she walked, not bothering to check whether he was following her or not, because honestly, she couldn’t care less. Not caring either about the state of her shoes as she walked over the fallen trunks, or the green leaves on the ground.She heard him, loud and all, as he quickly caught up to her with his big strides. Men. They were the lucky ones. No need to wear dresses, or stupid shoes with ribbons on them. Or a tiara. No, they would walk around in pants and boots, and nobody would have anything to say about it.“But that’s only because the tiara wouldn’t stay on my head,” she heard him say, out of nowhere.How could he know what she was thinking? Was he one of those mind readers? Katniss turned to look at him, hoping to see his hands in the air like the magicians that once came to the castle, only to find him with a huge smile on his face. She wanted to ask how he knew about the tiara, really wanted to know, was about to ask when she realized what had happened.“Oh, no. I said that out loud, didn’t I?” She could feel the heat of a blush creeping up her cheeks, spreading across them. Until another question popped into her mind. “How do you know a tiara wouldn’t stay on your head?”“Because I’ve tried one.”That did it. She looked at him, all manly, all sure of himself in his royal attire, an almost cocky smile on his face before closing her eyes, imagining him in a tiara. A golden one, with sapphires as blue as the sky lying among his curls - or trying to remain on his head anyway. She could feel laughter bubbling in her throat, but there was no way she was going to let it go and give him the pleasure of seeing her laugh.She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Pietro was still in front of her, smiling, as if he had been waiting for her to come out of her reverie to talk.“The tiara was okay, though. I had much more trouble with the dress and heels. My mother still hasn’t forgiven me.”That did it. The idea of Pietro, so intrinsically male, wearing a dress and heels was too much for her.The laugh she tried to suppress in her throat was out of her mouth before she could stop it, her hands went to her lips to try to repress it, but it was too late.Imagining Pietro wearing a gown like one of Prim’s was too much. She laughed.He made her laugh.–

It had been the first time he had made her laugh. But not the last, far from it.

On their daily - now more carefully monitored - walks, he talked to her a bit more. He told her stories of his brothers, Philip and Paul, how they played tricks on one another or tried to escape their nannies or guards to go to the castle’s kitchen and eat their weight in cookies - which turned out to be a very bad idea as per Pietro’s memories. He had sparks in his eyes when he recalled his first time on his pony, when he proudly stayed sat on the saddle while the animal kept on munching the sweet grass, refusing to move on. She found herself laughing in her presence, warming up to him.

Until one morning, she was asked to meet her father in his study.

She worried that her behaviour with Pietro was a problem, as she couldn’t think of anything else she had done that could have triggered her father’s wrath - well, except that day they ran away in the woods, without their chaperones, escaping the guards for a few hours. Which she had already been lectured about. Several times. By several people.

She walked slowly towards her father’s study, a small room close to her parents’ bedroom - her mother had a similar one on the other side - taking a deep breath in front of the ornate wooden doors she knew so well.

She nodded slightly to the guard, who opened the door after knocking on it.

“Your Majesty, Princess Katniss is here.”

“Let her in!” The familiar voice of her father came from the room. With a nod to the guard, she let herself in, being careful to walk slowly into the chambers, taking time to look around. She could barely contain a groan when she noticed that her mother and Prince Pietro were already there too.

“Your Majesty,” she curtsied in front of her parents, before turning to Pietro and nodding. “Your Highness.”

She nodded at Pietro, who was standing in front of her parents just as she was.

“Well, well, take a seat, the both of you,” King James said, holding out his hand, indicating two armchairs waiting for them. “We have to talk and make plans.”

Discuss? Plans? Katniss was starting to get worried about what was going to happen next.

“You have been engaged to each other for seventeen years now,” King James said.

Yup, definitely something to be worried about now.

“Pietro has been with us the last month, and my sources are telling me that you two are getting along well.”

Sources. Ha. Katniss knew who the source was. Effulgia Trinket. Her lady-in-waiting, her mother’s friend, a trustee employee of her father, and traitor-in-chief.

Katniss felt sick to her stomach. The knowledge that she and Pietro were to marry was one thing. Having to face the inevitability of it was something else entirely.

“Moreover, King Mark and Queen Gloria are inquiring as to the date, to make their travel arrangements. I understand they will be visiting your brother’s realm soon too, Prince Pietro?”

The prince rose from his chair before he answered.

“You are right, Your Highness, my brother and Princess Elisabeth are expecting, and my parents will want to see the baby as soon as possible.”

“That’s understandable. So, when will your sister-in-law have her baby?”

“Doctors said it should be early September,” Pietro answered, sitting when King James turned to whisper in his wife’s ear.

The sound of her pulse seemed deafening to Katniss. She guessed she was getting married sooner rather than later.

To an almost complete stranger.

The room started to spin. She closed her eyes to try and block it, but the noise in her ears kept whispering “wedding, wedding,” like a mantra.

“Are you alright?” Pietro’s soft voice, barely a whisper, caressed her ear. She felt her hands being engulfed in larger, warmer ones, the smell of cinnamon filling her nose. She just knew it felt right - and warm.

Katniss nodded, not daring to open her eyes. Maybe if she stayed in her bubble, just there, she could pretend none of this was happening.

“Katniss, dear, do we need to fetch Doctor Heavensbee?” Her mother’s voice hit her ear, concern evident in her tone. Katniss forced her eyes to open, taking in the three people around her. Her mother and father, prevented from stepping closer to her by the broad frame of Prince Pietro, who was still holding her hands.

She felt his warmth leave as soon as he withdrew his hands from hers, stepping back to allow her parents to come closer. Katniss could see her mother was ready to go to the door and ask for the Doctor to be fetched - the last thing she really wanted.

“It won’t be necessary, mother… I… “ She searched for the words to explain her faintness, but they just wouldn’t come. How could she explain to her parents, to her fiancé that she didn’t want to marry even for the sake of the kingdom, that her heart belonged to someone else?

“It must be the warmth, your Majesty. Maybe it’s too hot for such the lovely flower Princess Katniss is,” Peeta chimed in.

Katniss didn’t know whether she should be grateful to Pietro for providing her with a perfect excuse, or for be angry with him for making her seem as fragile as a flower, a damsel in distress - something she wasn’t by any means.

But the look of relief on her parents’ faces convinced her to go along with Pietro’s story. That was the easiest way out, no risk of a visit from the doctor, nor endless remarks on how to behave when you are a princess. (Yes, she had read the manual, thank you very much.)

“Yes, it’s probably just the warmth… it’s nothing, don’t worry,” she said, breathing deeply, trying to not freak out again at the thought of her impending marriage with the Prince sitting next to her.

“Well, then, Prince Pietro has been here for the last month. We have spoken with King Mark and Queen Gloria, and we have decided the wedding will happen in early June,” King James said.

And is that convenient for you, Katniss? she thought, as she watched her parents discuss all of the plans with her fiancé, as if she wasn’t even there. Was this what the marriage would be? She would be lost to their eyes, for the benefit of a man, the son they were never able to have?

She lost track of the discussion, focused on not letting her anger show on her face. Focused on not running out the door, slamming it behind her. Which was very tempting right now. Very.

The sound of her name made her come back to reality. Her parents were still focused on Pietro, having apparently not noticed her zoning out. “I’ll have to discuss it with Princess Katniss, of course. Do you mind if we take a moment to talk about it?” Prince Pietro asked her parents.

King James asked the guards to escort Katniss and Pietro to the nearby library, where they could speak privately.

“Of course, the door will remain open,” the king said, matter of factly.

Katniss barely repressed a snort - who did her father think she was?

Pietro gestured for her to go ahead, letting her lead the way towards the library. She walked into the familiar place, where the smell of old books and leather always reminded her of her childhood, of time spent on her father’s knees, reading through every story she wanted. Those were the good old days, when Grandpa Henry was still king, before her father had to take on his duties - finding less and less time to spend with his daughters.

The old armchair attracted her, still all brown and comfortable after so many years of being sat on, still inviting. Katniss sank in, taking the ten steps needed before falling into the familiar furniture, her body finding its spot automatically.

She heard Pietro’s heavy tread coming into the room, stopping a few feet away from her. She knew she had her back to him, that it wasn’t polite at all, that she should turn around and acknowledge him, behave like a princess.

“So, um, Princess, do you agree?” Pietro asked, his voice nervous, far from his usual confident tone.

She turned her head slightly, watching him from the corner of her eye, noticing her was shifting on one foot, then the other, while raking his hand through his curls.

“On what exactly?” She knew she was playing dumb. That they had been talking about their upcoming nuptials for the better part of their time in her father’s chambers, that they had most certainly chosen a date too.

“June 21st. For our wedding.”

“Honestly? I don’t care.”

She heard him sigh, then move, until he was face to face with her. “I understand you don’t want this wedding. Me neither. But I don’t feel like we have a choice. Our fathers want our kingdoms to unite, so be it. You don’t have to like it, I don’t have to like it. I….” His eyes, usually so clear, were a shade darker. “I understand you don’t love me. But for the sake of this marriage, can we at least try to be friends?”

“I don’t know how to be friends with someone….” Katniss muttered.

“It’s easy. You just do things together, and talk, Princess.”

“Katniss.”

“My apologies, Princess Katniss.”

“No, that’s not….” She started to say, feeling the blush creeping up her cheeks. “ I mean, I guess you can call me Katniss when we’re together. If I can still call you Pietro?”

His smile was his answer.

“So, have you two spoken?” Katniss’s mother’s voice cut the silence stretching between them. “Are we all agreed?”

The date. They hadn’t even spoken about it. The main purpose of them speaking alone in the library was to agree on a date for their wedding. Katniss felt herself shiver at the thought of it.

Katniss’s eyes went to Pietro’s where she saw a question written as clearly as the chalk on a slate.

She nodded her answer as discreetly as possible.

“Yes, your Majesty. We have agreed on the date,” Pietro said, never taking his eyes off Katniss’s.

“Wonderful! We’ll confirm the date with your family, then,” Queen Annabelle said, before bending slightly, placing a soft kiss on her daughter’s forehead, and heading out of the library.

“So, friends?” Pietro asked, softly.

“Friends,” Katniss confirmed.

–

Katniss still had trouble realizing that only a few weeks had passed but everything had been done to prepare for the Royal Wedding. Effie had done what everyone thought was impossible to do. And Katniss was standing in the dressing room of the Saint Mary’s Cathedral, almost ready to tie her life to the man waiting in the room, on the other side of the corridor.

She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing her reflection, and behind her the beautiful dress hanging from the wardrobe. Effie had freaked over the dress because it was too simple, not sequined enough, lacking the sparkle expected for a Royal Princess, the heir to the kingdom. Yet, Katniss didn’t indulge her, sticking to her idea of as simple a dress as possible. She had to compromise on the train of the dress, though, longer than what she was used to. She refused all of the Crown’s Jewels - too gaudy, too big, too heavy to wear, so not a thing she would want to wear on this day. She would have to wear her tiara, of course, and that’s all what she was ready to put on, as she had said over and over again, to her mother, to Effie, even to her sister.

Even on that day of June, her wedding day.

The day she was going to marry Prince Pietro.

But before committing herself to this new life, there was something she had to do.

Someone she had to say goodbye to.

So, on that day, the twenty-first of June, before putting on her gown and everything else, she sat at her desk, in front of a blank page, wondering how she would be able to write the most difficult letter of her life.

She never liked saying goodbye.

She knew she had to. She was about to commit her life to another man. Peeta needed to know why she had remained silent all this time, all the months since Pietro had come to the castle. And why she would remain silent for the rest of his life. Most importantly, though, she wanted to wish him a good life - maybe one day in his future, there would be little Peetas running around his family bakery. But they would never be her children.

She gathered her strength, her courage, and wrote, never looking back over her words, knowing if she did she would end up never sending the letter.

There wasn’t an envelope on the dresser, nothing. Katniss knew, though, that Effie would find one, would know where to send it. She’d always been the one in charge of her mail before, making it look like it was hers, and not the Princess’s.

Katniss gathered her courage, again, before calling Effie in, her hands shaking as she gave her the letter. “You won’t look at it, Effie, please?” Katniss was sure her friend could hear the plea in her voice.

“Oh, child, no. Don’t worry. I’ve never read any of them…”

“You haven’t?”

“Never. I swear. But now if you’ll excuse me, I have a precious delivery to make,” Effie said quietly.

But instead of going down the corridors towards her office, Effie just crossed the few feet leading towards Prince Pietro’s en-suite, knocking on the door.

“Effie! What?? No!!!” From her own chamber, Katniss almost screamed at what she was witnessing - her so-called friend giving the letter she wrote to the man she loved to her future husband!

Effie turned slightly, winking. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ve got this covered,” she said as Thresh opened the door, smiling as he recognized Effie. “Ah, Gabriel, it’s been awhile but I have another one.” To Katniss’s horror, Effie handed him the freshly written letter.

“It’s been a long time, Eff,” the man said, smiling directly at Katniss above Effie’s shoulder.

“What can I say? They were busy.”

Effie turned towards Katniss, before walking back into the room, closing the door behind her. “I guess I have to tell you a story now,” she said before taking Katniss’s hand, directing her to the sofa in the middle of the room.

“Why did you give Mr. Thresh my letter for Peeta, Effie!” Katniss could feel the anger - no, the rage - coursing through her body, only fueled by Effie’s gentle touches on her arm.

“Well, obviously so he could give it to Peeta, dear.”

How could Thresh know Peeta? He was Katniss’s best kept secret - or so she had thought until two minutes ago.

“He knows Peeta?”

“Of course.”

Realization came suddenly to Katniss. Effie never used a postal service, rather someone she trusted, a messenger to send the princess’s precious letter.

“When will Thresh leave, then? He’s got to be back here today in time for my wedding to Prince Pietro!”

“You still don’t get it, Your Highness?” Effie said. “It’s so -”

A knock on the door interrupted her. Then another one. Effie rose from the couch, turned to look at Katniss with a small smile on her face.

“Well, I guess I need to open this,” she said, as she walked to the door, opening it quickly to find Prince Pietro on the other side.

Katniss’s hands went to her mouth, as she realized he was holding her letter.

“Can somebody explain this?” he asked, eyes ablaze, his hair completely disheveled - Katniss knew that was caused by the raking of his hands through it. Several times.

But he was holding her letter.

The one she wrote to Peeta.

The wedding would be cancelled. Her father would be furious. She would certainly be expelled to Mantova or the end of the world, and Prim would have to reign.

This was the end of her world.

“Well, well, it seems Gabriel didn’t tell you anything, the little scoundrel. Come, come, Prince, I was about to tell the princess a story,” Effie said, smiling.

Smiling.

Katniss rose from the sofa, her legs shaking. How could Effie smile? How could she, when she had basically ruined Katniss’s life?

“Princess, will you sit down please? Prince Pietro, would you please sit too?”

Effie extended her hand towards the sofa, an invitation for Pietro to join his fiancee, his soon-to-be-bride.

As he walked towards her, Katniss saw Effie closing the door, locking it for safety.

“Well, I will start by the introductions. Katniss, meet Peeta. Peeta, meet Kathy.”

Katniss couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Had Effie really said Pietro was… Peeta? Her pen friend? Her best friend? The man she loved - without ever meeting him.

“What? That’s not possible, Mrs. Trinket…. how do you know about Kathy?” Pietro asked.

“Well, darling, because she’s standing right next to you.”

“No, Effie, it’s - he isn’t Peeta! Peeta is the son of a baker!” Katniss chimed in, anger creeping up.

“Thresh told me to write that….” Pietro muttered.

Katniss looked from Effie to Pietro, amazed at his words. Had he said what she thought he’d just said? How could it be even possible?

“What’s your favorite color?” Katniss asked Pietro, in a whisper. She was shocked at the revelation and at the realization that she could be sitting right next to the man she never thought she’d be able to meet. That she had spent the last three months getting to know him.

That she was marrying him in a few hours.

Pietro met her gaze, unfaltering.

“Orange, “ he answered. “Like… “

“A sunset,” she whispered, her eyes focused on his. She remembered Peeta wrote it in a letter, a few years ago.

It’s only when she heard a click that she realized Effie had left the room.

Katniss could feel the weight of her future weighing on her shoulders.

She was behind the wooden doors of the Cathedral, next to her father, behind the rows of children carrying baskets of wildflower petals, with the murmur of the crowd waiting for the procession to arrive.

She was resisting biting her nails because she was pretty sure Effie would spot it immediately, or pacing down the room they were in, or doing something else like running away.

“Katniss…” She turned her head, surprised her usual braid didn’t follow before she remembered the updo Octavia had spent so much time on - tying her hair into a loose knot, with strands of her hair escaping, the whole hairstyle looking like it could break up at any second. In fact, Octavia used so much hairspray Katniss seriously doubted it could move before the end of the week.

She was surprised too, at the tone her father used. She could be wrong, but it seemed like it was laced with sadness and sorrow.

“Dad?”

“Honey, I…” King James seemed to be at a loss for words. Katniss saw him shake his head, before his hands lifted her delicate lacy white veil. She closed her eyes as his head moved closer, until she felt his lips on her forehead, a sweet touch remembering times long gone, when he was just her Daddy, and not King James. “I’m sorry, darling that I had to put all this weight on your shoulders… the future of a kingdom lies in the ties you’re about to knot. I wish there was another way to secure the peace of our land. I just hope that you won’t resent me forever…”

Katniss saw her father lower his head, avoiding her gaze. She put her hand on his forearm.

“Everything will be fine, Dad. Peeta is a good man.”

“Peeta?” King James asked, surprise evident on his face as he finally lifted his eyes. “You know?”

“We know,” she answered. “We understand.”

Katniss and Pietro had talked a lot while Effie had been out of the room, past the surprise of discovering they had actually known each other for years, past the anger at the manipulation they had been an unwilling part of, to come to an understanding.

Understanding why they had been given the chance to know each other before being wed. Understanding that they needed to get acquainted before being thrown into a marriage that was more an alliance between two kingdoms. Understanding that they still had a lot to discover about each other, even though they had started the journey already, building a strong friendship over the years.

Their time for discussion had been short though, leaving them with more questions than they had answers for.

“He told me he was Peeta - I told him I was Kathy,” Katniss told her father softly. “We’re friends, at least. For now.”

She wasn’t ready to admit she had been in love with Peeta for quite a while now - because could she be sure it would translate to Pietro ?

“Still. I’m sorry. We are sorry, your mother and I, King Mark and Queen Gloria. We only want peace, for everyone in our lands. We’re sorry we couldn’t find a better arrangement - but men being men… they need to see the example coming from the top… “

Katniss knew all that - understood the burden of being a leader, of having to make decisions for an entire population - it was something else to feel it, to realize this burden would someday be hers. She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her father’s cheek.

“We understand. We will do our duty. Peeta and I. Together.”

Her thumb caught the tear that was escaping from the corner of her father’s eye.

“Are we ready in here? We wouldn’t want to be off schedule!” Effie’s voice chimed in the room, resonating off the high ceiling.

“Are we?” King James whispered to his daughter, one last time.

She nodded, taking her place back on her father’s left side, resting her hand on his forearm, holding her bouquet of flowers in the other.

“We are.”

–

The hearth was warming the room, but all Katniss could feel were the drops of cold sweat falling down her back.

Behind her was the bed she would have to sleep in.

Well, where she and Peeta would have to sleep. After they had consummated their wedding.

Tradition demanded a proof the bride’s virginity had been taken during the night.

Katniss wasn’t sure she was ready to give in to tradition.

The hinges of the door creaked.

She closed her eyes.

“Hey…” Peeta’s voice echoed in the room. “I’m… um. I’m here.”

Obviously.

Katniss refrained from rolling her eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around and look him in the eye.

Prince Pietro. Her husband. Her Peeta.

Her brain had trouble processing all that had happened this day.

The wedding, the discovery of Pietro’s identity, the truth about their friendship revealed.

Everything.

Everything was taking its toll on her, here and now, overwhelming her, the weight of what was expected from her, from them, suddenly too heavy to carry on her own shoulders.

She felt the tears falling down on her cheeks at the thought of what was expected of her, of them, here and now.

She cried for the childhood long gone, for the duties to come. For what she had never asked for, for what she thought she would never have, which was now offered.

Warm hands started massaging her shoulders, slowly, more tears falling down her cheeks, until Peeta moved in front of her, one hand coming to her head, bringing it slowly onto his shoulder.

She cried as his hands cradled her head, stroked up and down her spine, offering comfort, understanding, care.

She cried until his shirt was damp with her tears, her eyes aching, her cheeks blushing, until her eyes were dried.

“I’m sorry, Katniss. I really am,” Peeta whispered into her ear. She could smell the cleanliness of his shirt, and something else, something…. Cinnamon, maybe? “What can I do to help you?” he said against her ear. “Just tell me…”

“I don’t know… I… I’m scared…”

“What are you scared about?”

She didn’t dare look at him, hiding in the comfort of his chest, of his shirt where she could pretend this day didn’t exist, where she could pretend she wasn’t about to give herself to an almost stranger - someone she just discovered today was her old friend.

It was too much for one day.

Memories of the ceremony, Peeta in full uniform waiting for her and her father at the altar of the Cathedral, his blond hair shining in the light of the stained glass above them, igniting even his eyes.

Memories of his shy smile as she walked towards him, holding his hand out to take her trembling one, engulfing it in his warmth, anchoring her next to him, as if he was trying to give her some strength.

Memories of words exchanged, signatures.

Of a chaste kiss on her cheek, soft lips pressed against her skin, leaving a print there, as well as a mark on her heart.

Memories of cheers, of a long meal, of too many people, too many greetings, too many smiles, false or genuine.

Suddenly, she felt a strong arm under her knees, before she realized Peeta was scooping her, carrying her towards the bed.

The bed.

She couldn’t look at it, nor think about what they should be doing in it.

She only knew she wasn’t ready.

So, as soon as Peeta laid her on the quilt with the utmost care, she freed herself from his embrace, her shaking hands starting to undo the knot of her nightgown, when Peeta’s fingers stopped her.

“Katniss, no.”

Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes again.

“We have to….” she said. “The sheets must bear the proof this union was consummated… “

“What if I’m not ready?” he asked softly, his hand lowering hers. “Are you ready?”

She knew she wasn’t. But her duties came first.

“We have to…”

“No. It should be our choice. And I’m not ready for that. Are you?”

She wanted to scream she wasn’t, that she needed time, but couldn’t force herself to look at him. She knew what would happen if the marriage wasn’t consummated that night.

Katniss felt his fingers, again, under her chin this time, lifting her jaw until grey eyes met blue. “Are you?”

She shook her head from left to right.

“Then tonight, we sleep,” he said simply, standing and pulling back the quilt for her.

She was tempted to slip under them - but knew she needed to ask.

“What about tomorrow morning?”

“We’ll figure something out. I bet we can be… creative,” Peeta answered simply, still holding the quilt open for her. “I’ll sleep on the floor, don’t worry.”

He waited until she was under the quilt, comfortably settled on the dozens of pillows before grabbing one, making himself a bed in front of the hearth.

–

Five, ten, fifteen weeks later.

Sweat was sliding down her forehead, along her cheeks, a drop almost reaching her chin when Peeta’s lips closed on it.

Katniss could feel his eager hands moving along her ribcage, tracing the muscles there, as his lips continued their chasing of her sweat.

Sweat he created earlier. Sweat they made together. Hers on him; his on her.

They didn’t consummate their marriage until they were both ready. After the first night in her chamber, Peeta had proven how creative he could be, making a large stain on the sheet out of berry fruit and red paint.

They wanted to get to know the other first, to discover the hidden meanings behind the words that once were etched on paper, when they had been nothing more than penfriends.

Katniss learnt he was a painter. That he liked to bake, even showing the castle’s cooks a thing or two about breads. That he was kind and caring, always having a nice word for everyone, even when he didn’t have time. That he was one of the few able to get a smile out of her - whether it was when escaping official obligations to wander the woods, as if he knew she needed a breather, or when he whispered silly jokes at dinners. She learnt he was a gentleman, never sharing a thing of what happened when the doors were closed.

They left for several small trips across the kingdom to meet with the people in the thirteen realms. From the mountains of the Twelfth, to the sea of Fourth, they travelled, welcomed by smiling children, enjoying the company and the opportunity of being away from the castle, from the eyes of the guards - or worst, Effie.

In Fourth, they spent a long time watching the ocean, side by side, the spectacle of the sunset on the horizon a never ending amazement. Katniss remembered how shy Peeta had been when he had taken a sketchbook out of his satchel, as if he was ashamed to want to draw.

But instead of saying anything, she leaned in, watching in amazement as his hand created a landscape with a simple pen. Here were the reflections of the first star on the calm water, there a boat sailing, its white wings lost on the colorful palette the sun was showing. She smiled when she saw two people, side by side on the beach, watching the sunshine.

Without a word, Peeta tore the page out of the sketchbook, but before Katniss could utter a single word of protest, instead of throwing the paper away he handed her the drawing.

Just like that, he extended his hand, the paper moving in the wind.

As time passed, she could see his smile falter as she made no move to take it.

But Katniss had no words to tell him how touched she was. Katniss Everdeen had never been a woman of words - she was all for actions. She leaned in, taking the offered drawing out of Peeta’s hand, being once again overwhelmed by the smell coming from him, something much more addictive that the chocolate she drank every morning.

From so close she could see his eyes lighting up as he realized she was taking the drawing, then his lips started forming a smile that was her undoing.

She leaned a bit closer, wanting to feel if his lips were smooth under hers or not.

She discovered they were soft to the touch, warm, tasted like salt. She discovered she liked the feel of them under hers, that somehow, her mouth fit to his.

She learned that butterflies could live in her stomach. A complete colony of them, whose awakening was triggered by the feel of his lips on hers.

Most importantly, she discovered it felt right to kiss Peeta.

“Alright, lovebirds, I remember what it is to be newlyweds, but you have a dinner to go to, your Highnesses!” Lord Odair’s voice broke them out of their little moment.

Katniss pulled back, pretty sure her face was as red as the colours of the sunshine - and at least as red as Peeta’s cheeks right now. “Oh my god, Peeta, you’re sunburnt!”

“Am I?” he asked, his eyes never moving from her face, amazement clearly displayed in his so-blue eyes.

“You are,” she answered. She couldn’t explain why she started tracing the shape of his cheeks with her fingers, tracing his freckles with the tip of her index. She heard Peeta’s sharp intake of breath, before feeling his hand on hers, taking it away from his face.

“Katniss… What are we doing?” he asked under his breath.

“Getting to know each other?” she whispered, mesmerized by his long eyelashes. She’d never met a boy - a man, really - with eyelashes as long as his.

“Katniss… I–”

A cough interrupted Peeta. A steward bearing the colors of Fourth was standing behind them.

“I’m really sorry, Your Highnesses, but dinner will be served in a few hours, and Count Odair is adamant you visit with him and his wife beforehand…”

“Very well….” Peeta sighed as he rose up from the sand, holding out a hand for Katniss to take.

She considered trying to stand on her own like she always did - until she realized she wasn’t alone anymore. She was married, to the only man she really wanted to marry, who made her laugh, who helped her carry the burden of royalty, who made her cheese buns in the evenings when they silently snuck into the castle’s kitchens, who could draw amazing sunsets with just a paper and a pen.

Who was able to awaken butterflies in her belly with the pressing of his lips to hers too.

She took his hand.

She didn’t let go until later, much later, when they had to part to get ready for the dinner.

He didn’t let go either.

Day after day, they grew closer, touches lingering a little too long, eyes searching the other, small kisses to say goodbye, Peeta finally agreeing to share Katniss’s bed.

Day after day, they grew more confident, more sure of themselves.

Night after night, hands found the other, at first a brush, until brushes weren’t enough. Until the need became unbearable.

Until they surrendered to their eager hands, warm hands.

Until they mapped each other, reaching the sweetest of agonies.

Together.

#Everlark birthday drabbles #thegirlfromoverthepond #jhutchmyanchor

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