#secret toastbaby

[mega-aulover]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Ugh, I'm super bad at this. I never know what is good...I'll do the ones that are only FFN, which are my favorites.

A Redo in Time: Imagine if Katniss had the opportunity to go back in time and redo the outcome of her life while in District Thirteen. With a second chance who would she save? How would she go about to change the very thread of time? Read and find out. An Everlark time Travel Fic.

Naked in Brooklyn: Modern AU Humor Katniss is Pregnant, has a secret, and Prim has just discovered it. Soon everyone else will as well. EX: "NO, PRIM GIVE ME THAT!" Katniss yelled. She turned pink. She turned red. She actually turned purple, when she caught her baby sister Primrose looking through her pictures on her phone.

Second Start to the Right: An Everlark Story. Katniss is the Pan and has come to realize perhaps she wants to grow up with Peeta. Here is a glimpse: "Wait Katniss" Peeta jumped up and grabbed her hand before she flew away. "You are a Lost Boy now. You cannot leave." Katniss angrily spat. "I have to go home." "Why can't you stay here?" Katniss felt as if he was rejecting her.

Toastbabies & Geese: A short humorous story set after Mockingjay. Follow Katniss and Peeta's adventure as they try to get Haymitch & Effie together for the sake of their Toastbabies.

The Story of Us: A short Story about the life of Katniss and Peeta's life long after the War. Find out how they cope with telling their children about their past and deal with life's hurdles as their children grow up.

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

@amethyinst (and @rosegardeninwinter because why not) I agree with both points. And it's why I have this perhapes a bit personal headcanon that they end up giving their daughter(s) Everdeen and their son(s) Mellark.

Katniss DOES seem like a traditonal personality when it comes to these things (it's why I firmly beleive they DO get married and actually fairly quickly after GBT) but at the same time BOTH of their fathers and family names mean something to them. When the time comes to name their newborn daughter, I think they don't make plans untill they meet her and while she is every bit her fathers daughter, they know she is an Everdeen. That is just comes natural.

Then when their son comes, Peeta gets to feel the same thing. Holding his son there is a part of him just knows Mellark is what they are naming him.

(and any secret/adopted toastbabies follow this pattern too)

It is a strange headcanon, I know but one I love. Peeta has only had brothers, so his son carrying that torch fits the same way baby girl toastbaby carries her mama and aunties name forward.

would peeta and katniss' kids be everdeens or mellarks? or hyphenated...

[alliswell21]

I wish you would write a fic where one half of Everlark discovers a secret about the other half...

Hi Anon, sorry it took me two lifetimes to respond to your ask… I ran into a massive case of writer’s block and then I had a baby, which actually helped get this drabble running.

I’m sorry if this isn’t quite what you expected, but hey, the prompt was opened enough 😳… hope you like it.

Unbetaed. Inspired on the extra day/night we had to stay at the hospital with my baby.

————————————————

I’m curled up in the armchair of the hospital room I’ve been occupying for the last three days. I’ve been in the same position for about an hour, the fake, green leather of the chair that has seen better days, has made every inch of my skin in direct contact with it, sticky and sweaty.

I can’t recall the last time I’ve blinked either; my eyes have watered and dried up again in an endless loop, giving me a headache I’ll be hard pressed to get rid of in days, but my pupils will stay trained in the squirmy bundle, moving in spasmodic twitches until I can look no more. My stomach has long since stopped growling with hunger, finally realizing feeding myself isn’t a priority at the moment.

There will be no force on earth that’ll move me from my spot until the blue lights bathing the whole room in its eerie glow, have finally been turned off…

“Katniss?”

Except for that voice of course.

My eyes dart to the open door, and I could cry with relief at the sight of him: stocky built, average height, ashy blond hair that falls in waves messily all over his head, and the most breathtaking blue eyes a guy could ask for. But all I do is stand up so fast I get dizzy. I’m not allowed to seek his comfort and steadiness anymore, and the distrust in his features, painfully reinforces that notion. I robbed myself of the warmth of his arms.

“You came!” I squeak nervously while taking a step towards him, I can’t stop my stupid hammering heart from hoping. Even to my ears, the relief is palpable in my voice.

“Yeah,” he says in a isn’t-it-obvious tone, “You called me and said–” that’s as far as he gets before choking up and shutting his mouth entirely; he averts those deep blues I’ve missed so much to roam all over the room instead, zeroing in on the spot my eyes had been trained on not a minute ago.

“It’s that…?” His usually smooth voice falters, and without waiting for my answer he’s crossed the room in two strides. He’s always been heavy footed, but right now he’s as swift as a gazelle.

I stand behind him, giving him ample room to look and come to terms with what he’s seeing.

“How… um… how is everything…evolving?” He asks unsure, an edge of fear in his voice that makes my heart constrict with guilt and longing.

I open my mouth to answer but before the first word can even leave my throat, there’s a soft knock on the still opened door, and in comes the best buffer I could’ve hope for.

“Miss Everdeen,” says a tired looking middle aged man, Dr. Aurelius. He’s soft spoken, but I can’t help to appreciate his bedside manners, “I just got the result of Willow’s last bili serum test.” He stops and looks past me. “You must be mr. Mellark, Willow’s father,” he states more than asks.

I look behind me, the moment of truth is here even before I expected it and not at all how I’ve planned for it. I’m sure he’d see every emotion playing on my face right now, if only he were looking at me, but his eyes are fixed on the doctor, ignoring my internal warring.

He steps forward, shaking Dr. Aurelius’ hand with his usual vigor. “Peeta Mellark, sir. Nice to meet you.”

“Ferguson Aurelius, Head Neonatologist of Panem Medical Center. I’ve heard many good things about you, son. I’m glad to finally be able to speak with the both of you about Willow’s prognosis and care plan.”

Peeta makes a sound at the back of his throat, I bite my lip in anticipation of what he’ll say next, because although the good doctor has indeed heard all kinds of good things about my baby daddy, Peeta has only learned about my little secret some 20 minutes ago, when I finally grew a spine and called him, after I was faced with the necessity of the blue lights and all the complications jaundice could bring to my three day old daughter.

I feel terrible this is what finally pushed me to seek him out and come clean about me having his baby after breaking his heart and walking away from him. Truth be told, when I found out about it, I tried calling him a thousand times, I just didn’t think he’d forgive me for walking out in him, let alone want to raise a child with me.

I was just too scared of how quick and hard I had fallen for him. I was scared of how much I needed him to reciprocate that love, and I ran before something could make my fears a reality.

I was an idiot.

“I’m sorry, sir. I’ve been working at my bakery until just now, I figured coming to the maternity ward covered in flour wasn’t the best idea.” He gives the doctor one of his self deprecating smiles, and continues, “But I came as soon as Katniss called, saying there was a problem with… little Willow.” Peeta chances a glance at me, the way he says our baby’s name, as if savoring it, lets me know he will let me have a piece of his mind soon enough.

All I can do is lower my sight to the ground, and listen to the rest of the conversation. I feel my eyes fill with tears. He won’t expose me, won’t let my secret be known, he’s still protecting me, even though I know keeping Willow’s existence from him has hurt him in the worst possible way.

“Well, thank you for being considerate to all my patients,” Dr. Aurelius says with some humor himself. Then his tone turns serious, “Are you familiar with Willow’s condition?” He asks.

“Familiar enough. I googled some stuff about it, when I got Katniss’ call.”

“Very well, then let me be brief: Willow got tested for bilirubin, which is a standard test for newborns with certain tell signs. Her results came back at 13.3. While 13 is not an entirely bad number, and it’s still 2 levels under Jaundice, it would be irresponsible of me to do nothing about it, so with ms. Everdeen’s approval, we started phototherapy as a means to fend off the advance of jaundice. In the standard form of the treatment, your baby will lie in the crib only in her diaper and an eye protective band, while being exposed to a type of fluorescent light that is absorbed by her skin. She’ll be under the lights for 12 hours, that’ll be broken into 3 hour segments, where she can be fed, held and diapered for up to 30 minutes, and then returned to the bassinet and lights.

“If her levels keep hiking up, her health could be seriously compromised. I know you were both hoping to take your baby home today, but I’ve decided Willow will benefit from an extra night with us under the lights. Any questions?”

“I guess, I’m wondering what caused the condition in the first place? Is there anything we could’ve done to prevent it? What else can we do to help her get better?” Peeta’s steadfast mask crumbles with his many questions, I can’t help but to be captivated by how much care, even love, I detect in his borderline frantic questioning.

It feels like being stabbed in the chest, to know he already cares for Willow so much, and he just had a quick glimpse of her in her plastic bassinet, under the fluorescent blue lights that distort her sweet features.

Me, I got to carry her inside me for 38 weeks, then after I delivered her, I got to hold her close to my heart, fed her, sing to her, changed her diapers.

I love her now, but when I first found out I was expecting her… let’s just say, with my old fears and baggage, it was a different story, but Peeta deserves a child, he has always wanted them so badly, which was one of the reasons I left, breaking his heart in the process. Peeta was born to be a daddy, but I squandered his daughter away from him, even though I was the one who never wanted children until I felt her stirring inside my belly… I can’t imagine how betrayed and angry he must feel.

Doctor Aurelius clears his throat, and holds Peeta’s gaze as if weighing him down before answering, but the man floors me with his next words.

“Ms. Everdeen has done everything any good parent would’ve done in her place, Mr. Mellark. I hope you know that.” He pauses just for a moment. “Nothing going on with your child’s elevated bilirubin levels is in anyway a reflection of your, or hers, parental skills, or even your competence as caregivers. Jaundice, is in fact very common in newborns and highly treatable. You have done what any responsible parent would, and put your daughter’s wellbeing before your own comfort. The fact that you not only have already chosen a pediatrician for your baby and set up an appointment already- and believe me, that’s more than I can say about most other parents I’ve met in this hospital- the fact that you’ve taken care of her future medical provider, tells me, Willow is in very capable hands. With all this, I want to say, both you, and us, are doing everything we need and can do to help Willow stay healthy.”

There’s quiet for a moment, Peeta shifts on his feet and gives a tired chuckle. “I’m afraid I didn’t have anything to do with the choosing of the pediatrician. That was all Katniss, but I trust her judgment when it comes to important things like choosing a doctor for… our baby.” He keeps his eyes stubbornly on his feet.

“All the same, Mr. Mellark, I’m confident you and Ms. Everdeen will take good care of my patient, once I’ve released her to you, hopefully tomorrow. Until then, please take some rest. Once the baby goes home, sleep will become a commodity you’ll yearn for!” With that last comment and a ragged laugh from me and Peeta, the doctor walks out of the room.

A cold, deafening silence falls in thick waves all over us, suffocating at least me. I’m feeling too many awful emotions to look at him, but I feel his eyes burning a hole through my skull.

“You’re a piece of work,” he says with contempt.

I shouldn’t get defensive, but just like that, all my guilt, fear and longing disappear, inflaming my anger instantly. “You’re no angel either, lying through your teeth,” I throw back, regretting the words immediately.

I see the rage gathered in his eyes, a mutt ready to strike, biting my head off. “And not even a bit nice, even after the biggest lie came from you!”

“I was never know for being the nice one in this relationship!” I snap. There’s a pregnant silence between us before I say weakly, “You were.” I wrap my arms around my middle and shrink back into the hospital bed. “I’m sorry.”

I haven’t really sink completely into the mattress when I find myself engulfed in the warmth of his arms and comfort of his scent: cinnamon and dill, from the breads he must’ve baked today.

Oh how I missed this. Oh how much I don’t deserve the comfort, yet how much I crave it. I can’t bring myself to push him away, not now that my stiffened shoulders shake while the ugly sobbing rakes through me. It’s weird, feeling the stress of the last few days, of probably the whole pregnancy, melt away with just one hug, but too soon he’s stepping away from me, and I claw at his shoulders like a drowning kitten pawing at its rescuer for dear life.

“Stay with me!” I beg almost hysterically.

“Always,” he kneels before me, wiping away the tears falling down my face, then he adds with some fear and hesitation, “if you allow it,”

“I’ll allow it!” I nod frantically, trying to convince him.

“You have to promise me, you’ll let me stay and help. I don’t think my heart could stand not being around Willow, now that I know she exists.”

I lean backwards, staring straight into his eyes, all shadow of doubt gone from my voice, “I’ll never keep her from you. Even if you and I don’t work out ever again, I’ll never keep her from her daddy. I won’t do that to my daughter.”

“Good,” he says and smiles at me sweetly. All anger stored away for now, probably even for good. “Now, tell me all about… well, everything.”

I smile to myself, looking past him and at the bundle under the blue lights.

“Her feeding is in ten minutes. We can keep her out for 30 minutes. You can feed her a bottle of breastmilk I expressed before you arrived, then you can feel how the fussy hair of her head feels like velvet under your fingers. She’s so soft, and beautiful, you’ll lover her! ” I tell him proudly, almost giddy with the excitement of him holding his baby girl for the first time ever.

“I’m already a goner,” he responds equally excited. “Now, about that feeding… I’ve fed my nephews, but I’ve never changed a diaper. How do I go about that? I wanna do everything!”

I chuckled at his enthusiasm.

Phototherapy has proven to fix more than bilirubin levels today.

[paintedpeeta]

ahem

pregnant with toast baby 2 headcanons? 🥺

ahhhh i feel like it’s been a lil while since i had a headcanon ask and i’ve definitely missed them (and also, i never pass up an opportunity to talk about the toastbabies. NEVER.)

so first off, the most obvious thing to point out is that katniss said carrying her second born was a little easier. now, that’s a pretty vague statement because it can be taken to mean a few things - either that the pregnancy itself was medically/physically easier (less complications etc), or that she herself found it easier (she wasn’t as anxious), or both of those things at once. i personally lean more towards the second option, that she wasn’t as afraid and felt more assured in herself and her ability to be a good parent and keep her children safe (which has always been katniss’ fear, not having children in itself).

and obviously i think that just came with the experience of already having her daughter, and although she expresses her fear when she carried her daughter it clearly wasn’t a traumatic pregnancy in the sense that it put her off having anymore children. she chose to have another baby, no matter what naysayers might think.

although she said the pregnancy was easier, i do headcanon that she must’ve at least found it exhausting. i think there’s maybe 3/4 years between her daughter and son, and so while she’s pregnant she’s also got a young child to take care of and i think that’s where peeta comes in. i imagine he’d be a very hands on dad, taking his daughter to work with him and such to give katniss time to rest when she needs it.

they both make a big fuss of their daughter when katniss is pregnant, because they wouldn’t want her to feel left behind or second fiddle to their new baby. i think they’d let her decorate her bedroom how she wanted it and treat her like a little princess when they have to move her rooms and repaint the nursery for the baby. she takes to being a big sister right away, and is forever cuddling her mama and ‘talking’ to baby brother (which she’s convinced he is from the moment she finds out she’s going to have a sibling).

and their daughter is the one to let slip that katniss is pregnant again. just as i think they did with their first, they keep it between them for a little while and eventually let their daughter in on the secret (which she’s very excited about, being trusted like that by her parents) but almost the first time she sees haymitch after finding out she blurts something about being a big sister and let’s the cat out of the bag.

peeta totally spoils katniss when she’s pregnant (even more so than usual lol), giving her massages whenever she’s sore and insisting that she keeps her feet up when she’s late on. in her first pregnancy she complained a little that although she was pregnant she was still able to do everyday tasks, but when she’s carrying their son she’s quite happy to be pampered and let him brush her hair and draw her baths if he’s offering (“your baby is making me lazy”, she tells him)

🕯🧸🧑🏼‍🦱👩🏽👧🏽👶🏼🧺🍼

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt suggestion: who from the OCverse is in Beijing right now? Did Graham retire? Who’s competing? Does Haymitch have another date?

Anon I can’t write this without giving away a bunch of spoilers and writing half my epilogue, which might still change in some of the details. Bah. But since I can be nice on occasion, I’ll give you a run down as it stands now. Below the cut so those who don’t wanna be spoiled can keep on scrolling.

Graham turned 40 in Jan 2022 so yeah he’s retired. He’s still in Beijing though because he’s now coaching. What is he coaching? Women’s ski jump. Why? Because he wants to help open Nordic Combined to women, and the ski jump part of it is still relatively new to the Olympics and competition in general for women so that’s where the sport needs the most attention right now, since cross country skiing is pretty well established. The so called plan is, once women's ski jump has gained enough traction, to then open up a women's Nordic Combined division. Since I’m not omniscient, only optimistic, I’ll say that I hope the world aligns so that my plans for Erika (his youngest daughter) competing in Nordic Combined becomes a reality.

Ryen is 33. He’s competing but this is his last freestyle skiing Olympics. He’s still debating on whether or not he’s ready to retire (I’m not that old, he protests from the wings), start coaching instead, or if he wants to switch back to downhill skiing and compete there for a while longer.

Prim is at home. When the pandemic hit in 2020 (I’ve had to rethink the after the story close events for these characters grrrrrrrrr), Ryen pretty much freaked out thinking he might never get to see Gramps again. So when the news started sounding bad, he grabbed a flight home before he got stuck overseas in lockdown. Quarantined in Salt Lake City. When that was done, he and Rosie packed up the car and drove to Skadi with the menagerie of pets. Prim actually had everything ready to go before he finished his fourteen day quarantine. She was worried about Gramps too, but also she wanted to be with Katniss, who was expecting a toastbaby. So Rosie and Ryen get to Skadi, quarantine there and then just… stayed. Rosie managed most of her therapy clients over zoom for awhile and eventually started working in person with patients at Skadi. She does frequently travel with Ryen for his competitions, but she’s not in Beijing. Someone needed to stay at home and watch the events with…

Gramps. Eirik is watching from home with Rosie. He decided not to travel to Beijing due to health reasons and well he is getting up there in age.

Haymitch is in a serious relationship with the person with whom he had his hush hush not-so-secret secret date in Korea. They have one son together so far. All three of them are in Beijing.

Madge, Bonnie, and Bristel are in Beijing and are competing. I'm totally co-opting the fact that the US women's biathlon team put in one of our best Olympic performances ever and saying that all three of them made the pursuit. *Whua* I do what I want. :p

Katniss and Peeta… they’re both 29, soon to turn 30. They both happen to be in Beijing. Not specifying why or what they’re doing. I have to keep some secrets! You’ll find out exactly what’s up with them in the story itself.

I will tell you that in this universe, toastbaby the first is adopted and a boy. Also no one who first sees them together assumes that K&P are his parents. That’s really cryptic but it’s all you’re getting right now in regards to him. Mainly because this is an original character that I’ve dreamed up, developed, and gotten really REALLY attached to and I’m not sure how much he’s actually going to show up in the story itself. Probably not much and only in the epilogue unfortunately so… anyways.

Toastbaby the second, the dancing girl, is about to turn 2 in a few months. She’s at home with Gramps and Aunt Prim, being spoiled rotten. Toastbaby the third (the boy with blond curls and gray eyes) is still about a year away from arriving.

Ariel is 16. She’s driving her mom crazy. Her mom is driving her crazy. Ariel is also the reason Ryen is considering coaching. Graham is having difficulty dealing with this. Savannah thinks he’s ridiculous. ;)

Brigid is 15. She’s really into snowboarding but hasn’t yet decided if she wants to compete.

Caitlin is 10 and making everyone around her feel like an idiot. She skis for fun. Cross country with her mom when Dad’s not there, with both when he is. But competition is not in her future. Her true love is books. Lots of books.

Diana is 9 and wants to be a veterinarian. The twins, Erika and Everett are only 3. None of the s’mores babies (that’s the nickname for Savannah and Graham’s kids) are in Beijing. They’re all at home with Savannah.

Who did I miss?

[sparklingdust4612]

(i am about to go on a full-blown rant about your everlark fanfic "Tides")

Firstly, the characters, Cato: Asshole as always, I dunno I just hate the guy no matter what. even though his actions pushed katniss into Peeta's arms, still, he's an asshole, womanizer, and a total douche-bag who doesn't give a damn about anyone. Snow: I never liked the guy but this fanfic made me love this dude (platonic and fatherly, I swear!) He was such an amazing, caring, level-headed, intelligent, and business-minded person and he even had a conscience and cared for people. WOW! never thought I'd see the day but you definitely pulled it off and quite amazingly so... Alma Coin: glad to see her as a straightforward lawyer with a no-bullshit attitude. Glad she didn't have some secret agenda. Katniss: Amazing, strong, resilient, business-minded, and caring. She has been one of the best characters in this fic. loved her role and character development throughout the fanfic. Peeta: amazing, supportive, caring, and responsible. Loved him and his silver tongue so damn much, plus the over-protective brother act was hilarious. Cinna, Johanna, Haymitch, Effie: Amazing and supportive friends with unique and admirable goodness in their hearts. Mr and Mrs Everdeen and Mellark: Both pairs of parents should get the 'supportive parent award of the decade' along with Snow. Clove and Glimmer: Hated with a burning passion. Toastbabies and other kids: Perfect cherries on top :D Madge, Gale, Rory, Finnick, and Annie + Ceasar and Messalla and the camera crew: Amazing and admirable supporting characters Delly: Loath her...

My favourite quotes and dialogue parts from tides:

1- “Because, Robby,” his mother would respond with her hands on her hips. “Everyone wants to see the wonderful children that I’ve raised.”

2- “You know I can see up your nose, right?”

Johanna flicked her forehead. “How old are you?”

“Okay, okay…”

3- “Have fun. Treat her nice. Give her your jacket when she pretends to be cold, and all that other shit.”

“Manners, Peeta,” Effie admonished him as she approached.

He smiled and kissed her cheek once more. “Give him hell, Effie.”

4- “Holding hands, huh?” Johanna whispered in her ear. “That’s practically necking in Panem, isn’t it?”

5- “Did you let him sleep over in any certain places?” Johanna asked, her dark eyes dancing. “Like maybe your vagina?” “No!” Katniss looked over to make that Prim wasn’t listening. “We’re waiting on that kind of sleepover.”

“Okay, fair enough.” Johanna smirked. “But, he slept over in your mouth.”

6- “Bed her well,” Prim replied with a salute.

He turned at her words. “Primrose!”

“I’m thirteen,” she said as she stood up, her eyes rolling in exasperation. “I know that you’re not exactly brushing each other’s hair in bed.”

7- "Cato didn’t look at me the way that Haymitch looked at Effie.”

“And, how was that?”

Katniss pulled away to meet his eyes. “Like she was the end and the beginning.” She gave him an anxious smile. “Does that make sense at all?”

8- “I guess you heard the good news.” She looked to Prim. “Your sister is a woman now.”

He wasn’t sure what to do so his hands came together into an awkward clap.

“Uh…yay.” Peeta gave his sister a weak smile, his enthusiasm failing him. “Should we go out for breakfast or something?”

Prim stared at him, her eyebrows raised, before letting out a laugh.

“You just applauded my period—I think that’s celebration enough.”

9- “Did you really have to tell him that I became a woman today? Does everyone in the world need to know that I got my period?”

Peeta scoffed at her. “I didn’t tell Cor—but, you just did.”

His sister pulled out her chair next to Cor, and sat down. She put her head down in humiliation.

Cor looked at her sympathetically. “I’m not very sure what one does in this situation.” He looked over at Katniss. “Should I give her money or something?”

Prim turned her head slightly. “That might help.”

“Prim!” Katniss scolded.

His sister turned to Katniss. “You’re no fun.”

10- ‘You have to kick ass while there’s still ass to be kicked’

11- “What exactly is wrong with the dress?” Katniss asked her boyfriend.

“Her…stuff is showing,” he replied simply.

Katniss turned to him. “Stuff?”

“He means my breasts,” Prim informed her bluntly. “Because Peeta just realized that they’re there.” She looked at her brother, her hands on her hips. “They’ve been there for a while, Peeta.”

12- “That is not Effie,” Haymitch told them. “That is the giant pile of hormones and fetus holding my wife hostage.” He shook his head. “She has not slept—so I don’t sleep.”

13- “Conviction is one of the keys to convincing people about your cause.”

“What’s the other key?” He twirled her and closed his eyes, hearing the swish of her skirt as they continued their dance. "Passion,"

14- “There’s a S-E-X scene in this play,” he told her.

Prim snorted. “I know how to spell and read, Peeta. And, it’s more of an after S-E-X scene.”

“You’re very out of your element,” Katniss told him with a smile. “But, I promise to keep you from jumping on stage whenever she has to pretend to have S-E-X, okay?”

15- “During this bed rest period, I’m going to recommend that you…abstain,” Mags told the two.

“Seriously?” It burst out of her mouth. “You’re sticking me in bed and I can’t even do anything fun in it?”

“I’m afraid so,” Mags said, her lips turned up in a small smile. She looked at the couple, “Welcome to Parenthood. There are a lot of sacrifices to be made.”

Peeta eyed her small bump, his hand reaching to caress it affectionately. “You two better be cute as hell.”

16- “I understand that,” he replied. “But, I can’t help but be cautious. I’m going to be a husband and a father. I’m going to be putting on the big boy pants.”

She snorted, her eyes going right to his crotch. “I think your big boy pants are the reason I’m pregnant.”

17- “No wonder you two got pregnant!” Johanna was looking through Peeta’s side table drawer. “All these condoms—” She grabbed a bunch and held them out. “—perfectly wasted!”

“Seriously? That’s all you have to say?” Katniss asked her in disbelief.

Johanna thought for a moment. “Can I have the rest of the condoms?” Katniss’ eyes widened at her friend’s words. “I’m kidding!” She reached over to pull her friend into a hug. “I’m really happy for you. You’ve wanted this for such a long time.” Then, Johanna crawled over to Peeta and hugged him. “Congratulations on your most righteous sperm.”

18- “You’re crazy hormonal—but, I crazy love you.”

“I get to be Godmother?”

“If you want,” she said. “Peeta and I have talked about it.”

Johanna snorted before leaning down to speak to Katniss’ burgeoning stomach. “You kids are screwed!”

19- “I won’t get to see Prim make out with her boyfriend in front of you!”

“Is that really your motivation to want to get up?” he asked her with a smile. “To see me writhe in horror as I watch my sister up on stage as she marries Rory and has to pretend sleep with him?”

20- “Our children are also growing at a rapid pace—and I feel a little bit left out on not being able to feel them like you can.”

“Oh don’t worry—you’ll get your chance to bond with the babies.” Katniss grinned. “It’s called diaper duty.”

21- “Katniss...” He shook harder to no avail. “Wake up…” Nothing happened and Peeta could feel Prim’s laughing eyes on him. “KATNISS!”

22- His fiancée started, letting out a snort, as she roused, “NOT AGAINST THE FRIDGE, PEETA—TOO COLD!” Her hands batted him away as Katniss finally shot up. Her eyes immediately went to a red-faced Prim. “Sorry…”

23- “Can I come in? Or, are you doing something that you’re not allowed to do?”Watch over us—but, not too much though. I’d hate for Prim to be angry because her potential boyfriends mysteriously disappear. She’d blame me first!"

24- “OH MY GOD!” They looked up to see Prim, smoky-eyed and in a pair of teetering heels, at the doorway. She met their eyes and grinned. “What a greeting.” Rushing over to them, she hugged her brother and then kissed the top of Katniss’ head. “Got a nice view of your dilated hoo-hah.

25- “Thanks for messing up with your birth control and having these wonderful babies.”

Mags let out a chuckle as she wrote in Katniss’ chart. “That’s quite an endorsement for botched birth control.”

26- tender hand pat. They had that special way of communicating as all twins do.

“Are you wearing shorts under there?”

“Of course, big bro,” his sister replied with a grin. “I’m not Johanna.”

“That was one time!” Johanna retorted,

27- “Also, please refrain from exposing my niece and nephew to this grossness!” Prim added as she took Robin from Peeta. She handed her sleeping niece to Johanna before carefully taking James. “No need for them to know that their parents are complete horndogs!”

“Well, little sister,” Katniss started. “They’ll have to understand that without that grossness—they wouldn’t exist.”

28- “Don’t get her angry. She’s likely to kill us all!” The two women looked to see Cinna and Portia at the doorway. Her co-partners grinned at the agitation on her face. “We’re just joking with you.” Cinna went to her and kissed the top of her head. “We’re all actually very proud that you went rogue and decided to mess around in your car.”

The last thing I wanted to say was, this story was such an emotional journey for me. The characters, how they had started, their emotional developments and in some cases, deaths have hit me straight in my sensitive lil heart. Although I gotta admit, wonderful storyline and amazingly well-written. You pulled it off perfectly!!

Write more :D and thanks for sharing your amazing works with us @jlalafics, it means the world <3

[seasonsofeverlark]

Happy Halloween

Author: @shesasurvivor​

Prompt: Everlark and gang creating a faux trick or treating experience for toastbabies during this time of COVID [submitted by anonymous]

Rating: General

Author’s Note: Happy Halloween! Sorry for the uninspired title, I seriously couldn’t come up with another one (I’m sure I will in another 24 hours, though, lol). I took a little creative liberty with the prompt, as I was inspired by the videos of people delivering candy while social distancing. At any rate, I hope everyone is enjoying this unconventional Halloween despite everything!

___________

“If I had been deprived of Halloween as a child, I would have been devastated,” Peeta says.

I frown, hands on my hips, as I watch him draw whiskers on our daughter, who’s barely holding still long enough to let him work. “I’m still worried,” I say. “The news says cases are surging.”

“They’ve been stuck inside all year,” he says back. “They deserve to have a little bit of fun on Halloween.”

I sigh, leaning against the frame of the bathroom door as I look on. The thing is, I know he’s right. The kids have been cooped up inside most of the year by now. Even the few times we’ve been able to go anywhere, it was always the safest way possible to avoid contact with others. Always wearing a mask. 

“Please, mama?” Daisy’s eyes turn towards me, though she does her very best to stay still, so her whiskers don’t smear across her face. It’s those hopeful baby eyes that are my undoing. She looks so cute and so excited that I know I can’t keep fighting this battle. 

“Alright,” I finally relent. “You can go trick or treating tonight. But you have to stay close to daddy and me! And do exactly as we tell you to do.”

Her face lights up in a grin that she can’t hold back. “Hold still, honey,” Peeta reminds her, but she’s not paying attention to him anymore. “Yay!” she squeals, practically bouncing in her chair. Peeta allows her a few moments of excitement before reminding her that she’ll need to let him finish her facepaint before she is ready to go.

I insist on going out with them, even though it means we won’t be home to give out candy. My mother, who has been living with us since the lockdown started, agrees to give any out to the little trick or treaters we may get this year. Determining how much candy to buy this year was difficult since we weren’t sure how busy our neighborhood might be. Eventually, we decided on one large bag, figuring we would give it to our children to make up for a lost Halloween if no one else showed. 

“How will anyone see my whiskers if I have to wear a mask?” Daisy asks as Peeta and I shove on our jackets before we leave.

Peeta gives her a knowing smile. “I was thinking of that, too. So I bought you a see-through mask,” he tells her, producing the plastic mask from his pocket. I raise an eyebrow, wondering when he bought it, as the realization that he’d been banking on my relenting begins to sink in. I wonder what else he’s been up to. 

Jackets on and masks donned, we find ourselves out on the sidewalk with our son and daughter in the fading light. The sun is just now setting, but with our children being so young, we wanted to get them out early to be home in time for bed. “Which way should we start?” I ask the group.

Peeta answers before anyone else has a chance. “Let’s go this way,” he says, motioning off to the left. It’s a little too quick for an answer, further raising my suspicion that he’s been up to something. But whatever it is, it remains to be seen. So I relent and let him lead the way. 

Not many houses are lit up this year, which is precisely what I suspected. But Peeta leads us a few places down from our own to a house I know well. It belongs to our friends and neighbors, the Odair family. Only the house is hardly recognizable. By the look of it, they decided to go all out this year because their front yard is decked out in a scene of horrific marine terror, depicting scenes of sea monsters and crazed sea witches. Their family loves the ocean, but this is on a whole new level.

From the top window of their house, a wire runs down to their front fence. I study it, not sure what on earth it’s supposed to be for, when a voice calling down distracts me. “Happy Halloween!” In the window where the wire originates is Finnick Odair waving down to us. 

Our son looks up curiously while Daisy is jumping up and down in place. “Can we go up to their door? Please, please?” she begs Peeta and me both.

“I think he has something else in mind,” Peeta says and nods back up to the window where a white parachute glides down the wire in our direction. When it reaches the fence, both children hesitate, looking up to us for permission. “Go ahead,” Peeta encourages them. 

Letting go of their hands, they both run up to the basket and pull it down so that they can see inside before plucking something out and dropping it in their bags. Then they run back to us. “Mama, daddy, there was candy in there!" 

A smile lights up my face as I finally figure out what’s happening. Finnick has found a way to deliver candy while social distancing. I look over at Peeta, thinking this must be what he’s been up to, but he’s watching the kids. 

"Shall we try Johanna’s house next?” Peeta suggests when the kids are calmed down from the excitement enough to move on. I agree, wondering what’s in store for us this time. 

When we get there, her home is similarly as festive as the Odairs. Scenes of chainsaws and deranged lumberjacks loom in her yard. That same wire runs from a window to the front yard, and another parachute is dispatched on our arrival. The kids tear their eyes from the decor and run to the basket when it’s come to a stop, finding more candy inside. 

On and on, this continues as we make our way around the neighborhood. Haymitch Abernathy has angry skeleton geese figures in his yard. Beetee has a Frankenstein scene. Effie Trinket decides to go the more tasteful route and instead has immaculately carved pumpkins along her porch stairs. Everyone we know has decorated for Halloween this year, and they all have the same wire contraption rigged to deliver candy to the children.

“This is what you’ve been up to, isn’t it?” I ask Peeta quietly at one house as the children scramble to a basket to retrieve candy. Peeta gives me something of a knowing smirk in return. “I don’t know what you mean,” he says a little too innocently. 

I roll my eyes. “Fine. Keep your secrets,” I retort. 

He hands back as the children move on towards the next house, and I take the hint to slow down with him. “It was Beetee’s idea to do the wire,” he says. “But I just couldn’t stand the idea of letting them miss out on Halloween. Not this year, when everything has been so miserable.”

I shake my head, but I’m grinning. Leave it to Peeta to come up with something like this. It’s times like these that remind me of why I love him so much. Leave it to him to find moments of beauty in times of pain. To create them, even. He’s been my rock through this entire pandemic; tears well up as I think about it. “Thank you,” I tell him. “For doing this for them.”

He takes my hand in his. “Happy Halloween,” he tells me. “Just wait until you see what we’re doing for Christmas.”

[mocalmangeal]

toastbabies adventures and misadventures with local animals and/or the family cat ... go!

it’s just this photo here

no but one time toastbaby boy painted the cat. peeta doesn’t leave his paints out anymore because she was blue for weeks.

their daughter loves all animals. she was found feeding the mice even (actually no that was me oops) and befriended a local corvid that brings her trinkets sometimes

one time they both found an injured mountain lion cub in the woods and nursed it back to health. of course they couldn’t tell their parents about their secret pet so cue katniss and peeta’s horror when it comes strolling up behind the kids one day to beg for treats

also haymitch’s geese are just “raise your wings if you’ve ever been personally victimized by the mellark kids”

[javistgs-ficlibrary]

Fics in February.

One more month flies by.

This February, @dandelion--sunset​ gave us a lovely new chapter of the fabulous Reviving Romance just in time for Valentine’s and @katnissdoesnotfollowback​ tied up her sexy Christmas tale, Wrapped in Red, with a sweet bow.

But romantic love wasn’t the only thing in the air this month. The winter olympics turned out to be a great source of inspiration as well. 

Make sure to check out @deinde-prandium‘s Hurry Hard and Buttercupbaddass’s You Realize You’re a Distraction for a taste of our winter sport-themed fics. 

In the mood for a bit of mystery? Head over to AO3 where Within These Walls by @ryrous will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Happy reading!

Have suggestions or fic recs? Send them my way!

Multi-Chapters / WIPs

Biggest Fan by @burkygirl​ and @xerxia31​

Blind Date by @ra3lynn3​

Peeta and Katniss are rival co-workers. Somehow, they end up going out on a blind date.

The Cassie Chronicles by @xerxia31​

A series of vignettes exploring the life of single daddy Peeta Mellark, and his hot neighbour Katniss Everdeen. Originally written for the Tumblr blog @everlarkbirthdaydrabbles​.

The Cook's Contract by @hpfanonezillion​

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.

Crush It by @savvylark​

Geometry by @dandeliononfire​

Canon-friendly AU - Neither Katniss nor Peeta were reaped for the games at Age 16. Peeta Mellark finds himself unexpectedly, and abruptly, married off to Katniss Everdeen as the result of a contract made between her ailing mother and his father.

Hurry Hard by @deinde-prandium​

Lifeguard, unexpected by @thegirlfromoverthepond

One Year and One Day by @greetingsfromthenorthernsea​

One day Katniss found a young man in the meadow. He needed work and help. Katniss offered him a position as a worker in her household. For one year and one day he would be protected by her and her family and work with them. After that year he would be a free citizen of their town.

Peeta’s Shoes by @mega-aulover and @alliswell21​

Reviving Romance by @dandelion--sunset​

Valentine's Day is around the corner and no one hates it more than Katniss Everdeen. She keeps receiving messages from a supposed secret admirer, who she's positive is a nonexistent, horrible practical joke. Worse yet, she finds herself falling for her archery student and fellow classmate, Peeta Mellark, who is shy, sweet, sensitive, sexy... and assumably gay.

Stay With Me Always by @ra3lynn3

A modern A/U. Katniss attempts to keep the pieces of her adult life together as she works to help her sister through school and keep the lights on at home. A chance opportunity to work at Mellark's may change her, and Peeta's lives forever.

Thief of Hearts by @mega-aulover​

Within These Walls by @ryrous

Trust gets tricky when everyone’s a liar. Post Victory Tour, Katniss and Peeta are shipped off to the Capitol for what is supposed to be a five-day Victor’s panel, but things take a sinister turn when someone ends up dead, and it looks like Katniss could be next. Canon-divergent AU with eventual Everlark.

Wrapped in Red by @katnissdoesnotfollowback​

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 Realize You’re a Distraction by Buttercupbadass

Born from a discussion on tumblr. If Katniss and Peeta were in the Olympics, what events would they do?

Pairs Figure Skater, Katniss Everdeen, is focused on winning the Gold with her partner Gale Hawthorne. What happens when blue eyed Paralympian Peeta Mellark comes to her rescue?

Drabbles and One-Shots

Always by @ryrous

The Audition by @burkygirl​

Blanket Fort by @xerxia31​

The Cake Consultation by @allonsysilvertongue​

Cover Up by @greetingsfromthenorthernsea​

Decent Proposal, an Everlark one shot (Yes, Mistress) by @hpfanonezillion​

Golden by @litlifelover

I Fell Asleep on the Subway by @thegirlfromoverthepond

In the Library, With the Lead Pipe by @katnissdoesnotfollowback

Katniss 'goes on strike' by @thegirlfromoverthepond​

Learn to Fly by @purple-cube​

Masquerade by @purple-cube​

Morning Paper by @thegirlfromoverthepond​

Out of Gas by @greetingsfromthenorthernsea​

Paper Not Blood by @peetasbunmyoven​

Peeta as the son of a Hunger Games Victor by @alliswell21​

Rekindling the Fire by Andromakhe

Resolutions by @deinde-prandium​

Stuck at Work Drabble by @hpfanonezillion​

The Sweetest Treat by @jobanana7​

Symbiotic by @everlarkeologist​​

Toastbaby Drabble by @alliswell21​

Valentine’s Day Everlark by @alliswell21​

Vampire Drabble by @alliswell21​

You Realize You’re A Distraction by Buttercupbadass

Your Touch Still Lingers by @katnissdoesnotfollowback​

[everlarkbirthdaydrabbles]

My birthday is January 26th and I would very much love a fic about toastbabies in the snow. Because that's always what I loathe about my birthdays. Snow. So something to smile about in the midst of a Michigan winter. Thank you! :)

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays! To celebrate, an incredibly generous blogger who wishes to remain anonymous has crafted this incredible story, just for you! We hope you enjoy!

A/N: Modern AU. Rated T. 

********************

“You ruin everything, Ezra Mellark!”

Willow’s mittened fists pummeled the boy’s chest in frustration, hot tears coursing down her face and instantly sticking to her chapped cheeks in the frozen winter air. At her feet stood the ruins of the snow fort she’d labored to build every morning over the course of the past week, the roof caved in and broken into pieces, filling what was left of the interior with debris.

In her first wave of anger she’d kicked out the walls, a light dusting of snow blowing off the chunks and scattering into the wind. When that wasn’t enough to quell the fire raging inside of her, she turned to the wide-eyed boy whose touch had brought all her illusions crashing down and began launching a long line of invective at him.

He only flinched at her words, his fair and freckled face turning a darker shade of pink the meaner she got, but when he refused to say anything in retaliation, she turned to using her fists. These, too, proved useless against him. Willow was lean and undersized—a scrappy, scrawny sprite of a thing—but the young boy was solid and broad and already built like an athlete. He could have easily stopped her attack or leveled her with one well-timed push, but Ezra neither cried nor fought back, just allowed himself to fall backward into the snow, staring up at her stupidly, like the stupid, stupid boy he was.

“What’s wrong with you anyway?” Willow cried louder, kicking snow at him with the toe of one of her pink suede boots. “Say something! Or are you no good at that either?”

But no sooner had his mouth opened to speak than Willow looked at the wreckage of her snow fort, and the fury overtook her again.

“Why are you always bugging me anyway?” she snarled. “Trying to hang out with me and my friends, getting in the way? I wish you’d never moved here! I hate you and your stupid face!” She kicked more snow at him, but this time her boot scraped the underlying sidewalk, the suede scuffing as it dragged across the harsh pavement.

Willow nearly exploded at the sight of her once-perfect boots, a gift her daddy had sent her for Christmas all the way from his new home in the place he called Denver, now also ruined by stupid Ezra Mellark, but before she could start up again, one of the other kids at the bus stop, her friend Bennett, put his hand on her arm.  

“You gotta knock it off,” he said, his bright green eyes boring into her, imploring to the girl behind the kicking, scratching animal raging at the surface, “or you’re gonna get called into Principal Coin’s office. And you know what’ll happen then.”  

Bennett was right, she hated to admit it. If she kept at Mellark, she was going to end up in detention—she might anyway. And that was the last thing she needed, to stare at Mr. Latier’s sour face for an hour while her mom sat in the parking lot in their ratty old minivan, waiting to give her a lecture. She didn’t need detention or to get lectured or grounded. Her life was already hard enough.

What she needed was her old life back, for her parents not to be divorced and for her daddy to come back home. She hadn’t seen him in months, not since her birthday and not even for Christmas, and now her mom was going out on dates with other men, like she’d never loved her daddy at all.

In fact, she’d gone out on a date a couple weeks ago with Ezra Mellark’s dad, and when she’d come home later that night, Willow had crept out of bed and peeked into the front room—her mom was leaning against the front door, smiling to herself and brushing three fingers against her lips like there was powdered sugar on them. Her mom had talked to Mr. Mellark on the phone a few times after that, and every time they spoke, it seemed like Ezra tried harder to be her friend, which made Willow tolerate the sight of his stupid face that much less.  

When she thought about that secret smile she’d seen her mom make, she didn’t see what there was to smile about. Her daddy didn’t love her mom anymore—that’s what she’d overheard her mom saying on the phone to Aunt Prim the night he’d left with his suitcase—and maybe he didn’t love her anymore either. Maybe he’d never loved either of them at all. What could there be to smile about when your home had fallen apart and your own daddy didn’t love you?      

She tore her eyes away from the ruins of her snow fort and watched the cars as they passed by on Dequindre to make herself cool down, staring absentmindedly at the the way the tires churned up the dirty brown slush that had once been snow. There were piles of that muck everywhere, tall, towering stacks of dirt mixed with snow that would linger until April, and that’s how her life felt too, like something pretty had been destroyed, and it would always be that way.

“I’m sorry… it was an accident. I was just trying to help,” she heard Ezra plead, but she refused to look at him, staring instead at the school bus as it crawled its way toward them on the slick road.

“I bet it was an accident too,” she said, every bit as quiet as the boy had been, but where his voice had been filled with candy, hers was filled with venom, “that you killed your mom just by being born.”

She walked away then, headed toward the line of kids forming on the sidewalk, eager to get out of the cold and into the heat of the school bus. From behind her, she could hear that she’d finally hit her mark and that Ezra Mellark had begun to cry.

But it didn’t feel good like she thought it would. Instead, she felt like crying with him.

********************

“And what are you going to say when they open the door?”

With a shaking hand she pressed the doorbell and then looked down at her daughter, watching the girl struggle past her pride. There was no way to know which of them was more to blame for that, Gale or herself. In all honesty, Willow had probably inherited it from the both of them, since she and Gale had shared virtually all the same faults.

“That I’m sorry,” Willow answered in a sullen voice, biting her lip and hanging her head.

“For?” She pressed the palm of her hand more firmly to her daughter’s chest, holding her tightly against her legs—whether it was to support Willow in her shame or to protect herself from what she might see from the man opening the door, she couldn’t be sure.

His gentleness and goodness were terrifying to her, so unlike any guy she’d ever dated. It made her feel naked, like there was nothing she could hide from him—especially not the fear she’d brought to his doorstep that maybe she was failing her own daughter. She hadn’t been enough of a woman to keep her husband from running out on her, and maybe she wasn’t enough of a mom either, to give her daughter the home she needed.

“For being a bully.”

She didn’t have time to prompt Willow to expound on what she’d done wrong when she heard the heavy footsteps approaching to answer the door. She swallowed nervously, trying to control her breathing, even though it was her daughter that was expected to do all the talking. Even in the frigid air, she felt herself growing hot and weak, her knees shaking slightly at the thought of seeing him again. All she could think about was the way his lips had felt on hers when he’d kissed her goodnight… she hadn’t been kissed like that in years—and maybe not ever—like she was something to be savored.

But what kind of person must he think she is now? She felt as culpable for the things her daughter had said as if she had said them herself, and perhaps more so. She’d be less anxious, maybe, if she’d spoken to him directly instead of through Principal Coin and one impossible-to-interpret exchange of texts.

-Can I bring Willow by after school?

-Sure. We’ll be home all night.      

As it stood now, she had no idea what he thought about the entire situation, how angry and disappointed he must be not only in her daughter, but in her.

Then the door swung open, and there he was, his startlingly blue eyes (had they been that bright before, or were they only making up for the overcast sky?) peering at her through his black-rimmed glasses. He opened the storm door, his hand splayed wide over the glass to hold it open.

“Katniss,” he said in surprise, like it had been some other penitent parent he’d expected to come groveling at his doorstep.

“Peeta,” she rasped, her eyes falling to his lips for a moment before she remembered her daughter was standing there, probably pissing her pants from the agony of this. She cleared her throat and glanced down at Willow.

When Katniss looked back up at Peeta, he gave her a small smile and then looked down at her daughter, who, aside from the watery blue eyes she’d inherited from her maternal grandmother, was the spitting image of herself. “You must be Willow,” he said, looking at her daughter fondly. “I’ve heard so many good things about you. I’m Peeta.”

At kindness and acceptance where she’d expected only sternness and disapproval, Willow began to cry—deep, gusty sobs that shook her gut and made her chin quake. “I-I-I’m sorry, Peeta,” she wailed, sounding like a goat bleating for its mom.

Peeta’s eyes grew wide at the suddenness of her tears—a man watching Chernobyl in the act of melting down—clearly unaccustomed to dealing with the dramatics of little girls. “Oh no no, come in,” he urged, reaching out and wrapping an arm around Katniss’ shoulders, pulling her and her daughter inside his foyer. He shut the door behind them and squatted down to Willow’s height. “Hey,” he said softly. “You don’t have to cry. It’s going to be okay.”  

A movement behind Peeta caught Katniss’ eye. A little boy, the spitting image of his father—freckles, messy blond hair, broad shoulders, and all—stood hovering nervously in the kitchen. Katniss smiled at him and nodded in greeting, and the boy smiled back—a gawky, gap-toothed grin, as friendly as his father’s.

He was as precious as his father too.

By the time Katniss looked back down at her own child, Willow had flopped her hands onto Peeta’s shoulders and was bawling her eyes out onto his t-shirt.

“Peeta, I���” Katniss scrambled for the right words, robbed of rational thought when Peeta looked up at her, the steadiness of his gaze cutting through all her armor. He patted her daughter’s back consolingly, hushing her, with each pat her daughter’s cries growing quieter until they were no more than pitiful whimpers.

“I’m so sorry,” Katniss tried to explain again—to say something worth saying. “She’s had a tough time adjusting to…” she swallowed thickly, not sure how much to admit, “…all the changes.” Willow’s arms made their way around Peeta’s neck, holding onto a man who was, for all intents and purposes, a total stranger to her until two minutes ago. “She misses her father,” she added, unnecessarily, like it wasn’t completely obvious from the way Willow was clutching onto him for dear life.

Peeta nodded in understanding, silently encouraging Katniss to say no more.

“Hey, did you want to talk to Ezra?” he asked Willow encouragingly.

She nodded vociferously into his neck.

“Okay,” he chuckled, gently peeling her off him and holding onto her shoulders to angle her toward his son.

Ezra took a few tentative steps out of the kitchen, wiping his palms onto his pants and smiling nervously, even though he towered over her and could ‘Hulk Smash!!!’ her with a single blow if he wanted. “Hi, Willow. I—uh—I didn’t tell on you,” he said. “I don’t know who did.”

“It’s okay,” Willow sniffled. “I deserved to get in trouble. I—I—” she hiccuped and balled her hand into a fist to knuckle at her runny nose. “I’m sorry for being mean to you. I should have let you help with the snow fort and…” she started crying again, the tears falling so fast they were like twin waterfalls cascading down her face. “I’m sorry what I said about… about your m-m-mom. I d-didn’t mean it.”

Peeta stood up and walked toward the kitchen, squeezing his son’s shoulder as he passed him. Katniss remained in the foyer, mortified over what Willow had said and heartsick that Ezra and Peeta had to hear mention of it again, even like this, by way of apology. She took a quick survey of the vicinity, the framed pictures lining the wall up the stairs, the ones in the family room, on the bookshelves and console table. Most of them were of Ezra and Peeta together, or with a group of blond-haired men who looked so much like Peeta they must be his brothers and father. Only a couple were of Peeta’s deceased wife—and both were from when she’d been pregnant with Ezra.

Katniss thought of her own home, how she’d left up a few pictures of Gale with Willow as a reminder to her daughter—or so she’d hoped—that her father loved her, no matter what happened. “Your mom loved you very much,” she told Ezra, moved by the recognition that the boy might question that. “I’m sure of it. Moms… just do. I loved Willow long before I ever saw her face.”

The vulnerability she saw in Ezra’s eyes, his openness and need to be loved, killed her. But the way his father looked at her when he walked back into the foyer, a fistful of Kleenexes in his hand, was worse. Peeta was looking at her like she was the rising and setting sun—a fiery, beautiful, fleeting thing he wanted so badly, despite all his fears, to touch. Whatever vulnerability she saw in the boy was magnified tenfold in his father.

Peeta handed the tissues to Willow, waiting with his hands open and outstretched while she noisily blew her nose into them to collect them from her.

“Did you kids want to play outside for a little bit, before it gets dark?” he asked, glancing at Katniss. “Maybe the two of you can go build a fort together.”

********************

“You can borrow a pair of my gloves if you want,” Ezra offered, not waiting for Willow to reply before opening the coat closet in the hall and pulling out a plastic storage tub overflowing with scarves and hats and mismatched gloves. “Here,” he said, holding out a fleecy gray pair. “I wore these when I was little. I think they’ll fit you.”

“Thanks,” Willow said, biting her lip and reaching out to take them.

“I’m sorry they’re not pink.” He looked down ruefully at her winter boots. He knew how much she loved the color—she always wore pink, every single day. She probably thought the gloves were ugly, and for a second he worried she’d hate him all over again.

She surprised him by smiling. “That’s okay.” She slipped them on, flexing her fingers to show him how well the gloves fit. “These are perfect.”

“Awesome,” he grinned, looking over at his dad and Mrs. Hawthorne, who were now standing next to each other real close. “We’re gonna go play in the backyard,” he told them, feeling triumphant now that it seemed like Willow might be his friend after all. He tugged at her arm to steer her to the back door. “Come on.”

Proudly, he guided her through the kitchen and out onto the back deck, eager for her to see the kingdom that he’d been dying to share with someone else. There was a tree fort that his dad had built when they’d moved in this past summer, a tall, looming structure built into a stand of pine trees, and a trampoline too—although it was too snowy to use either of them right now.

“You can come over when the snow melts, and we can play on those,” he said. “And I have video games too, if you want to come over on a snowy day.” He didn’t care what she wanted to do, though, as long as she was willing to be his friend—he thought it best not to tell her that and push the limits of her friendship.  

Plodding into the waist-deep snow, he began scooping out a space for their snow fort. Willow joined him, the two of them working in companionable silence for several minutes. Ezra shot a glance toward the house, where he could see his dad and Mrs. Hawthorne standing in front of the kitchen window, looking out at them. They were standing close again, like moms and dads did, and he felt that familiar twinge of hope tugging at his stomach that maybe the four of them could be a family. He knew his dad liked Mrs. Hawthorne a lot anyway, because he talked about her all the time.  

“Your mom is pretty,” Ezra said. When Willow scowled at him, he panicked, not wanting to upset her. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, just that I can see why my dad likes her. She seems nice.”

Willow looked toward the house, her expression impossible to read. “She is. But if my mom goes out with your dad, I think mine might never come back home.”

Ezra considered her words, packing the base of the foundation for the fort. “Do you still think he might come home—your dad, I mean?” The thought of that upset him somehow, which only made him feel selfish. It would probably be best for Willow and her mom, but…

Her hands packed the snow tightly as she worked next to him, pressing down firmly on it to compact it. “No,” she exhaled. “I guess he doesn’t love us anymore.”

Relief surged through his veins at the thought of this mysterious Mr. Hawthorne staying far away, but he fought hard to hide it. “Oh, I’m sure he loves you.” Ezra was confident of that. “Like your mom said, parents do.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Willow said bitterly, scooping out an armload of snow from a nearby bank and crushing and shaping it to form the base of one of the walls. “Your dad must love you a lot, though.”

“He does.” Ezra smiled as he thought about all the things he and his dad did together. “We bake cookies and cakes together—he lets me do the frosting—and he takes me to the museum to see dinosaur bones—I’m gonna be an archaeologist—and on the weekends, we stay up real late and watch movies. He’s my best friend.” My only friend, he thought, but chose not to say that out loud. He gulped, feeling a little guilty at the look Willow got on her face as he spoke about his dad. She looked ready to cry, her chin quivering as she fought back the tears welling in her eyes.

“I miss mine.”

Ezra stopped working and plopped his butt down in the snow. He grinned when Willow did too, sitting crisscross applesauce in front of him. Then he laid it all out on the table, the secret hope he’d been carrying with him ever since his dad had asked him who the pretty lady with the braid was, if she was someone’s mommy or a teacher. “You can hang out with me and my dad. And your mom could come too. We could be best friends… if you want.”

Willow looked at him hopefully. “You mean that? After I said all those things?”

Ezra felt himself flushing pink, and he looked away and began building the fort again so that Willow couldn’t read his thoughts. They must be so obvious. He wondered what having a sister would be like. Or a mom. Maybe it could be like this.

“Sure!” he said. “And besides… I know you didn’t mean them.”

A large chunk of snow hit him on the side of the face, but when he whipped his head around in alarm, expecting to see her scowl or to hear her yell at him to shut up, Willow was laughing instead.

He scooped up a large chunk of snow, heaving it back at her in retaliation, wondering if being a brother was anything like this.

If so, it was something he could get used to.

********************  

“So… this—ah—wasn’t exactly how I imagined seeing you again.”

Peeta grasped the back of his neck, painfully cognizant of the mess all around him as he saw it for the first time through a woman’s eyes. And not just any woman’s eyes, but hers (were they this gray before, or were they only reflecting the color of today’s sky?). She had to think he was an appalling slob, seeing the natural disorder of his life like this. Boxes in the living room from when he’d moved in. Dirty dishes scattered on TV trays in the family room. The carpet covered in sock lint and cat fur (where was Buttercup anyway?). And all the toys. Everywhere he looked, toys. He hadn’t tidied up in a week. It looked like an indigent hobo lived here—or worse, a bachelor.

Which he technically was and had been for seven years, but he didn’t want her getting the wrong idea that it was a lifestyle choice for him.  

“I’m sorry about the mess.” He gestured lamely around him to the whirlwind Ezra had left in his wake, and then stooped to pick up a toy dinosaur off the ground—a diplodocus—gripping it by its slender neck.

“Oh, please,” Katniss scoffed. “I’m the one who should be apologizing… for today… I feel so awful… and then barging in on you tonight. It’s the last thing you need, I’m sure, after working all day. I feel… awful. About all of it.”

“No, don’t be sorry, Katniss.” He said her name just because he could, a recent luxury, and his most favorite. “Really. The kids will be fine—better than fine. And I—ah—love seeing you. Anytime, I don’t care when. It’s just that this—” he sighed and put the dinosaur on the hallway table behind him. “Isn’t exactly what I had in mind for a second date.”

He straightened his glasses by pushing up at the hinge on the right side, thinking about how the date he’d had in mind for them had involved a copious amount of carbs and a shared bottle of wine and a dark movie theater where, if he managed to locate exactly where and when he’d left his balls, he’d hoped to rest his hand on her leg. And then later, at the end of the night, maybe he’d pluck up the nerve to caress the side of her breast while they made out in his car again like a couple of horny teenagers. But he could feel the dampness on his shoulder from where her daughter had trustingly pressed her face, and suddenly this didn’t seem so bad either. It was actually kind of perfect, how right it felt, Katniss and Willow being in his home.  

“What did you have in mind?” Katniss asked—or might have. She spoke so softly, and to her shoes, that Peeta couldn’t quite be sure.

“Something a little fancier than a grand tour of my foyer.”

He noticed her face was flushed, and he was half-considering whether he’d had that effect on her when he realized she was still wearing her bulky winter coat. “God, I’m sorry… let me take that. I’m a little rusty. I’m not used to having company over, at least since we moved here… not that I had a lot of company before… I mean, platonically, yes…. But I mean female company… not that this… christ, this sounds like the beginning of a bad porno.” He laughed weakly over how tongue-tied she made him. It wasn’t a problem he’d ever had before with the women he’d dated, not even Delly, who he’d always considered to be the love of his life, but who had never consumed him quite like this.    

Katniss laughed, unzipping her coat and sliding it off her arms, her right breast and then left jutting toward him through the thin fabric of her shirt. Peeta took her coat from her, trying not to notice that her nipples were hard—the air in the room must feel so much cooler to her than when she’d been wearing her coat. It was nothing more than that, and it certainly had nothing to do with his stupid porn joke (although that fact did nothing to quench his desire to run his hands over their peaks. He wondered what her breasts would feel like in his hands, about their weight and the smoothness of her skin, and what she would taste like on his tongue if she let him suck on them).

He turned his back to her and walked over to the closet so he could covertly adjust himself.

“Your house is nice,” she said to his back as he hung up her coat in the closet. It was impossible to miss the distinction she made between house and home.

“Yeah, it’s alright. But I guess it’s missing a woman’s touch,” he chuckled.

“I didn’t mean that… I just—” she stammered.

“I’m not offended.” He closed the folding door to the closet and walked toward the kitchen. “Come on,” he said over his shoulder, inviting her in.

He went directly to the fridge, pulling out a gallon of milk. Katniss took a seat on a barstool at the island, resting her elbows on the peel-and-stick tile the previous owners had covered it with and that he had yet to replace (note to self: must make that a priority).

“I thought I’d make us some hot chocolate. They can’t last out there for long. Want some too?” He’d already poured enough milk in the saucepan for all four of them, reckoning that if he couldn’t win her over with an outpouring of witty banter, then maybe his favorite recipe could do the trick.

He looked up at her over the rim of his glasses for her answer, and she smiled and shrugged at him. “Sure.”

With the milk warming on the stove, he grabbed a mixing bowl with a spout and a whisk from the cupboards and then a couple bars of milk chocolate from the pantry. Handing her one, they set to work breaking up the thick bars into small pieces. They worked together, their hands inches apart, as they prepped the chocolate for melting.  

“I thought you’d be mad at me,” she said after a couple moments, dropping a handful of broken chunks into the mixing bowl.

He frowned, his hands halting mid-snap. “For what?”

Katniss looked over her shoulder, toward the window overlooking the backyard. “You shouldn’t have to get a phone call from the principal informing you that your son’s heart is broken.” She made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat, a strangled, pained noise. “I’m worried I’m letting her down, Peeta.”

It hadn’t been the highlight of his week, that’s for sure, hearing from Alma Coin. But then it brought Katniss here, and now their kids were playing together outside, so he could only consider that it had been for the best. “Her heart is broken too,” he said. “But you didn’t do that.”

She trapped her lower lip between her teeth, and Peeta fought the urge to reach over and tug it free. Instead, he reached over and grabbed a chunk of her chocolate bar, helping her to break it.  

“I think she blames me for her father leaving. I don’t know… maybe I blame me.”

“It’s not your fault, what he did.” The asshole.

“No. And if I’m being honest, one of us had to do it first… end it. There was some… dark, twisted sadness between us that only got worse over time. Like we’d let each other give up on our dreams, and then we gave up each other.”

None of that justified cheating, but he didn’t point that out. “You were young when you met him.”

The milk began to bubble in the saucepan, so he turned around, preferring to watch it simmer than to see the pained look on Katniss’ face when she talked about her ex-husband.

“Yeah, um… it was the summer after we graduated high school. And then, within a couple months I found out that I was pregnant… nothing says happily ever after like an unplanned teenage pregnancy, right?”

He smiled ruefully at the milk, flicking off the heat. It was telling she hadn’t said we. She’d said ‘I was pregnant.’ With Delly, it had been we, from the minute they’d seen the matching blue lines to the minute the lines on her heart monitor went flat. Of course they’d been trying for a baby, and had been a good ten years older and entirely committed to each other. But Katniss had deserved to be a we too, to have someone there every step of the way. She still did.

He poured the milk carefully into the mixing bowl, watching it melt the chocolate in channels and gullies.  

“But I’d do it all again, if it meant having her,” Katniss added softly.

“Yeah. The same here. And I mean… I know Delly would feel the same way too.” He waited a moment for the milk to soften the chocolate, and then he began to whisk the contents of the bowl, whisking hard enough to try to stir out the bitterness he felt at the admission. Acknowledging that he wouldn’t change the outcome—if it was a choice between having Ezra or not—had taken him years to even think. It still wasn’t something he’d really ever admitted out loud, much less to someone else.

And not just anyone else, but now to her.  

He pulled open a narrow cupboard and began to sift through the spice rack, grabbing the salt, cinnamon, and cayenne (his secret, favorite ingredient).

“Were there ever times you felt like you were letting him down too, after you lost her?”

“All the time,” he laughed, mixing in the spices. “It was me, my two older brothers, and my dad trying to raise a baby. Guess how well that went?” He was grabbing mugs from the cupboard when she spoke, and he kicked himself in the ass for that because he’d give anything to see her face when she said it—

“It looks like you did an amazing job to me.”

He spoke past the lump in his throat. “Well, I still feel that way, sometimes, that I’m letting him down. I’m all he’s got, and he deserves a hell of a lot more. Delly and I had wanted a large family… and now it’s just the two of us.” He filled the mugs, one at a time, until all four were brimming with the creamy umber-colored liquid. He slid one her way, and grabbed one for himself before he walked over to the window to check on the kids. They were happier than two pigs in shit, pushing around piles of snow like they were building a wall to protect the world from the Wildlings and White Walkers. Katniss joined him, standing so close their hands brushed together.

It had been a while since he’d held a woman’s hand, and he didn’t think there had even been a time he’d wanted to touch someone more than he did now. So he did it—twined his fingers through hers. She looked at him, surprised, but he only smiled down at her and blew into the steaming liquid in his mug. Her eyes fell to his lips, and christ, he wanted to kiss her, but their kids were ten feet away, and they were framed in a pane of glass.  

“He’s a great kid,” she told him, wresting her eyes away and turning her head to look out the window. “So generous and kind.”

“You’re doing a great job too, you know.” He ran his thumb from her wrist to the tip of her thumb in a smooth, comforting line. “I mean, look at that.”

Willow and Ezra were working side-by-side, gabbing away and rolling the snow into balls and chunks, packing and shifting and moving it in tandem.

“They’ll be inseparable now,” she said, a smile in her voice, as she held her mug up to her lips with her left hand and took a small sip.

God, I hope so.    

Peeta looked down at Katniss, admiring the renegade wisp of hair that had sprung free from her braid and was framing the delicate lines of her face. He wanted to kiss her, to paint her, to love her.

“Did you want to stay for a while… watch a movie or something with us?” It was a school night, but he had to ask. One way or another, he wanted that movie with her.

“Sure,” she said, and he hated that she sounded so surprised to be asked. Who were the idiots and inbreds that hadn’t treated this woman like a fucking goddess? “We can stay a while.”

You could stay always.

They stood together in companionable silence, gripping each other’s hands and watching their children play together, until the playing devolved into a chaotic snow fight.

“She’s gonna be soaked to the bone,” Katniss grumbled.

“She can borrow some of Ezra’s old pajamas to wear during the movie. He’s got some pretty stellar Minions thermals I think will fit her. But lemme go call them in.” He lifted their intertwined hands and pressed a kiss to the back of hers, dragging his lower lip across her skin.

Reluctantly, he let her go and walked over to the door, yelling out for the kids to come back in for the night.

The kids yelled back, their whining and wheedling loud enough to come from a horde of fifty. “Do we have to?” they cried in unison.

Peeta shot a glance over his shoulder at Katniss and shrugged, not exactly wanting to be bad cop. “What do you say, five more minutes?”

Katniss smiled and left her mug on the table, walking toward him and mouthing, “Make it ten.”

Yup. Works for me.

“Ten more minutes,” he yelled out the door closing it hastily and locking it—why did he lock it?

No sooner had he asked himself that than Katniss reached him, pressing her hands to his chest. She leaned up on her tiptoes and planted a chaste kiss to his lips.

It was perfect agony, her hands on him, her lips on his. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her against his body. His right hand found a free will of its own, roaming down to her ass and kneading her cheek. Katniss groaned into his mouth, winding her hands into his hair to tug him closer as they kissed. He didn’t care if she could feel how achingly hard he was for her because it was so painfully easy, being with her. And he wanted her to know that he was a man who wanted all of her, every part of her she was willing to give.

When she pulled away for air, panting and wild-eyed, Peeta took in the scene before him—Katniss standing in his arms, in his kitchen. The door was closed behind him but all he could see were possibilities for the future. They were as exciting as they were terrifying. The kids behind them, the kids ahead of them—this woman could be the mother of all his children, if she wanted. And he could be the father to all hers.

For the first time since he held his newborn son in his arms, he wasn’t afraid of wanting that. He wanted to give that to her.

He wanted to give her everything.  

[paintedpeeta]

first toastbaby was conceived in that same kitchen after a baking war, but they’ll keep that fact a secret

🤫

what the toastbabies don’t know won’t hurt them.

[bookgirl318]

"On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Two Star Crossed Lovers, and a Mockingjay to set Panem free." Or it could be Two Toastbabies, I can't decide... Your Secret Santa ;-)

Dear Santa-I love both ideas, but Two Toastbabies sounds so cute!  BTW, what was your opinion of the “growing back together” and Epilogue in the movie??  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Take care!

[alliswell21]

I’m about copy and paste @everlarkstoastbabies’ answer! Omg... we have similar tastes, but in different orders? Anywho:

1) Age gap (P is older)

2)Train/Victory Tour Smut

3)Dark!Peeta

4)One Victor!Everlark (obviously the other one never gets reaped)

5)One half of Everlark is from the Capitol

6)Katniss gets pregnant/secret toastbaby

7)Enemies to lovers

8)Step siblings!Everlark (don’t judge, they’re not blood related)

9)Role reversal (Katniss loves Peeta first)

10)Arranged Marriage

My honorable mentions: Supernatural/Fairytale!Everlark because that’s what I’m mainly known to write, and I actually enjoy it 😊

Poll #5

Let’s do something ridiculous and fun! Vote for your Top Ten Hunger Games Fanfic Tropes. Vote for as many as you want as long as you absolutely love them!

Reblog with your votes or comment on the post!