The Boy Who Couldn't See

by Blueberrychills94

Nobody knew how he lost his eyesight. Katniss, however, had known the blind boy since she was a child. She didn't know his name; in fact she had never spoken to him in her entire life. To her, when she saw the blond child sitting outside the bakery that her mother frequented, with his sunglasses and stick, she had thought nothing of it. High School turned into a different matter.

The Boy Who Couldn't See

By Blueberrychills94

Nobody knew how he lost his eyesight. Rumours go around, as rumours do, about possible things that could have happened to cause his blindness. None of them were true. It was quite possible that maybe nobody was meant to know. That it was one of those things that was supposed to remain secret. The truth was, it was nobody's business. In High School, however, kids made it their business through a persistence that borders on unhealthy ideas that makes them believe that they have a right to know.

Nobody thought to ask.

Katniss had known the blind boy since she was a child. She didn't know his name; in fact she had never spoken to him in her entire life. She had seen him in passing ever since Elementary School, ever since she first walked home on her own. Ever since she walked through the orange tinted streets during the cusp of autumn, backpack straps clutched tightly in her small hands with the preparation of attack. It wasn't an extravagant thing to witness; there were plenty of people with disabilities in Panem City. To Katniss, when she saw the blond child sitting outside the bakery that her mother frequented, with his sunglasses and stick, she had thought nothing of it.

High School grew into a different matter.

Katniss thought of the blind boy differently to everyone else. She didn't care about who he was or where he came from. She didn't care about anyone that much besides herself and her sister. This boy-just because he was blind-was no exception to her. Where everyone would stare at him when he passed, Katniss wouldn't so much as lift her head. What was the point? It wasn't like he was aware of everyone else's curiosity anyway.

The kids were cruel.

They would never physically hurt the blind boy. Doing something like that would be worthy of a death sentence in the eyes of their Principal, Alma Coin. Their words, whispered from ear to ear with giggles and dirty faces pulled at the back of the boy's head, were an entirely different matter. It made Katniss sick. She hated her school. And all the people in it. Not because of what they were doing to the blind boy but because of what they were doing as people on a whole. The blind boy wasn't a special case. They were dicks to everyone who wasn't like them.

Katniss distanced herself from everyone in her school. She had done since her first day of Freshman Year. She didn't interact with anyone beside Madge, who she only said hello to in passing because Madge's parents were friendly with Katniss' mother and would surely report her surliness to her the next time they bumped into each other in the supermarket. Being involved with the others was too much drama and Katniss didn't want to be around people who she couldn't trust anyway.

Even if she could, she didn't want to.

Katniss excelled herself in classes. She supposed the lack of distraction caused by party invitations and declarations to get 'wasted at the weekend' kept her mind clear for every exam she sat. She made a point of doing well in her education to set a good example to her younger sister and make sure she didn't end up working in Walmart alongside the girls who thought they were going to sail through life with their daddy's money.

Physical Education was the best because Katniss was able to run from everyone and not be questioned for it. The track course was huge and encompassed the basketball cage. Nobody else in her class really tried-they used broken nails and sore ankles as excuses to walk instead of run-but every day Katniss grasped the opportunity to just take off as fast she could. Away from those assholes, away from the things they said and did, the things they planned to do and the lives they intended to ruin.

Katniss overheard them planning to steal the blind boy's stick just to see what would happen.

Sure, kids were cruel. But Katniss sometimes wondered if the people she was surrounded by weren't just cruel but actual devil incarnates. Because, honestly, who would plan to do something so awful? There was bullying but then there was just unnecessary acts of abomination.

Katniss steered away from the Cafeteria that day. She didn't wish to witness their plan in action, even if it did result in five suspensions one of which being of the Queen Bee (more like Queen Bitch) Glimmer Sparkles. It blew a hole in the number of girls who showed up for P.E that day. Katniss didn't care. It was more enjoyable without them.

That afternoon, Katniss was running the track. As she came around the back of the cage, she could see the three remaining girls lumbering at the start, having barely moved an inch. These were the academics. The girls who claimed that they shouldn't have to do P.E because it wasted the time they could be using to study for, quote, 'more important subjects'. Katniss rolled her eyes and focused on the track again.

Katniss ran until her legs ached. Until the soles of her feet felt like they were bleeding. Until her heart pounded so hard she felt as if it were going to burst. Sweat poured from her pores, coating her skin in a thin film. Her teeth ground together as she forced herself to keep going, passing the academics for what felt like the billionth time.

It wasn't just the blind boy that got picked on by those five suspended girls. Anyone who they thought was beneath them would get it in the neck. The only time Katniss ever seemed to notice was when the blind boy got the brunt of their conceited spite. She didn't know why. Maybe it bothered her a little that they thought it funny to hurt a guy who literally couldn't see it coming. Honestly, Katniss couldn't wait to graduate. She wanted to get away from that hellhole of a school and it's never ending pit of cruelty.

"Katniss!"

Katniss slowed to a stop as one of the academics called her. It was Finch Brady (Glimmer concocted a stupid nickname of 'Foxface' which caught like a disease. Katniss would have felt bad, if Finch wasn't such a deceitful backstabber). "What?" Katniss asked suspiciously. Due to her preference of isolation, it was rare that anyone spoke to her. So it was natural for her to be confused when Finch called her name.

"Did you hear about what happened at lunch today?" Finch's best friend, Octavia Blake, asked. Octavia was a genius but she was also a massive gossip.

"I don't really want to know about it," Katniss replied.

"Don't you want to be kept in the loop?" Finch insisted. "You don't want to be left out of the news!"

Katniss rolled her eyes, her legs feeling like jelly as she approached the girls. The third girl, Venia Xavier, turned her nose up as soon as Katniss was within smelling distance. The reason Venia didn't do P.E was because she didn't believe in working up a sweat. She believed she was above it because of her high grade point average. Katniss ignored the girl's obvious disgust in her ability to actually run the track.

"I don't care about the loop," Katniss panted, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.

"Why not?" Venia demanded. "We have so much to say!"

"And because Glimmer and her crew are suspended you need someone to talk to in order to spread the word," Katniss deadpanned. "I'm not interested. Even if you did tell me something, I wouldn't breathe a word of it to anyone because, frankly, I don't trust any of you as far as I could throw you."

"Is that a reference to my weight?" Octavia snapped. Octavia wasn't huge but she was a little bit more on the heavier side. Certainly more than a healthy girl of her age should be.

"I never said anything about your weight," Katniss replied tiredly. This was why she didn't talk to people. It was barely five minutes into a conversation and Octavia was already trying to start a row.

"It's actually about Glimmer and her crew," Finch replied, pushing Octavia behind her with a roll of her eyes.

Katniss raised her eyebrows. "Why do you think I care?" she asked.

Finch flipped her orange hair so it caught the sunlight like a fire sparking into life. Katniss hated the way the sun was always at its peak during P.E class. She preferred to run when it was cool, not melting hot. Hence why she was sweating so much today. It was a classic summer's afternoon. In October.

"It's no secret that you hate Glimmer," Venia whispered, like this information was an important secret. "So we thought you'd want to know."

"Want to know what?" Katniss asked wearily.

"That she's coming back to school tomorrow," said Octavia.

Katniss frowned, falling for the bait. "Wasn't she suspended?"

"Glimmer's boyfriend Marvel claimed that she didn't steal the blind boy's stick. That he simply couldn't see where he put it. Easily believed, since the kid can't see," Finch explained. "This story was backed by Cato, Gale, and all the other girls who got suspended along with Glimmer."

"So they're just letting her back like that?" Katniss snapped, anger rising within her.

Octavia tsked and shrugged. "Seems so."

Katniss scowled and turned away from the girls. She started to run again, followed by a desperate, "Spread it around!" from Venia. Katniss rolled her eyes. No chance. She had heard Glimmer planning to steal the blind boy's stick, there was no way that that same afternoon at lunch he just 'coincidentally' couldn't find his stick and blamed it on her.

More and more reasons to hate this damn school.

Katniss ran harder and faster. Her feet pounded the track with loud smacks, her sneaker laces coming loose and flapping around her ankles. Her arms pumped beside her, hands clenched into desperate, angry fists. Stupid school. Stupid people. Stupid everyone! Why couldn't this damn 'experience' just be over already?!

Something floated into Katniss' hearing. It was soft, like music. She slowed to a stop and looked off to the right, where the music room window was open a crack. She wondered if someone was in there. Cinna, the music teacher, didn't come into school on Thursdays. So who was in there playing an instrument? Did they finally get a substitute?

Katniss looked over to the end of the track, where the academics stood in their huddle gossiping. She didn't want to pass them again. It would only make her angry. Brushing her hair back from her face, Katniss wandered over to the window. The school didn't have a good arts program. The music room used to be an expansive storage room. The budget for music wasn't spectacular either. Katniss chose P.E over music and had only seen the room a couple of times. It was pretty barren with an ancient piano set in the corner of the room.

The window was just above Katniss' eyes. She pushed up onto her tiptoes and gripped the stone ledge, pulling herself up a little to peer through.

The room was pretty much how she remembered it. Barren, with only a few desks, and a lonesome piano. Except the piano had been pulled to the middle of the room. The music was louder now that Katniss was closer. Clearer too. The melody was the Valley Song. Katniss remembered it well from when she was a child. Her father used to sing it to her and Prim when they were children.

Katniss nudged the blinds out of the way with her finger to see who it was playing.

She was shocked to see the blind boy sitting at the piano, his fingers being the fingers that was creating such beautiful music. His head was bent forward, as if he was looking at the keys, but his blacked out glasses were still on, showing that he couldn't possibly see what he was doing.

Katniss fell back onto the flats of her feet. Was that possible? She stayed by the window for some time, listening to the music coming from the boy's fingertips. Eventually, she had to leave. To shower and get out of her gym clothes. As the music grew quieter, Katniss began to wonder for the first time since she first saw him in elementary who the blind boy was and why he was such a mystery.

Katniss' final class was Mathematics. Mathematics was the subject she struggled with the most. Even if she passed all her classes, she only ever got C-s in Mathematics. It didn't help that on this particular day, she couldn't think about anything else besides the music that she had heard coming from the piano. All she had ever heard her whole life was her father's rough but melodic voice singing the lyrics of the Valley Song. She had never heard the actual tune or the music that backed the lyrics. If her father were still alive, a part of her may have entertained the idea that he could sing it against the music for once. However, the only person she had ever heard playing the music had been the blind boy. And she didn't know who the blind boy was. She didn't even know his name.

"Katniss, are you listening?"

Katniss snapped out of her thoughts, so startled by the sudden acknowledgement of her existence that she dropped her pencil onto the floor. Ms Trinket raised her eyebrows at her, unimpressed. Katniss scrunched up her eyebrows to hide her humiliation and picked her pencil off the floor with a sheepish smile.

Giggles at the back of the class. Katniss looked over her shoulder to where the academics sat, still somehow looking clustered with their desks the same distance apart as everyone else's. Katniss looked back at her blank notebook and forced herself to pay attention, even though Pythagoras' Theorem was the last thing on her mind.

A piece of paper landed on Katniss' desk. She blinked at its sudden existence on her desk. She looked up, searching the room for where it came from. Madge Undersee flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, peeking through the golden strands and quirking an eyebrow at Katniss. Katniss picked the paper up suspiciously and unfolded it.

You okay? You seem spaced out?

Why would Madge care? Katniss only said hi to her when they crossed each other's paths. That was hardly worth the worry or compassion that would go into taking the time to write a note and sneak it past Ms Trinket's hawk-like gaze.

Katniss caught Madge's eye and shrugged. The blonde girl smiled and drew a happy face with her pointer finger in the air, a clear message of, Cheer up!

How odd.

Ms Trinket gave double homework at the end of class. To be completed for the next morning. The collective groan that that earned was enough to make the Mathematics teacher give an extra page added to the load. Katniss would be swamped tonight. She was so annoyed that she practically swiped everything off her desk with one arm so it fell into her backpack with a clatter.

As she was zipping her bag up, she felt a presence in front of her desk. Madge Undersee stood in front of her, all smiles and sparkling eyes.

The thing about Madge Undersee was that she was a little . . . eccentric. She wore baggy jumpers, even in the summertime, with woollen hats and leggings that clung to her legs like glue. Her fingernails were always painted different colours and her hair was always worn in a sideways ponytail. Katniss didn't tend to convert to the social convention of judging people on how they looked. She didn't talk to Madge often because she was odd, she just didn't talk to Madge because she didn't really approach anyone. Except for the hellos they exchanged in the hallways or on the streets sourced from their parents' capacity to gossip.

"Hello Katniss!" she chirped.

"Hi . . . Madge . . ." Katniss responded with reservation.

"Can you believe that Trinket has given us so much tonight?" Madge groaned.

Katniss was completely confused by why this conversation was even taking place. Her initial shock caused her to gape for about five seconds before answering. "Uh, yeah, it's pretty rough," she replied.

"Do you want to come over to mine after school? We could work on it together?" Madge asked as Katniss stood up and shouldered her backpack.

"I don't know, Madge . . ." Katniss said. She was entirely lost now. Why was Madge asking this now? They had spent their entire High School years content with just saying hello to one another. Why was Madge all of a sudden showing concern for Katniss, waiting for Katniss to pack up, asking Katniss if she wanted to come over to her house to do their Mathematics homework?

"Come on, it'll be fun," Madge insisted as they left the classroom.

The hallways were nearly completely desolate, save for the occasional random student still shoving books into their locker or macking with their girlfriend against the Janitor's Closet door. Katniss could understand the desperation to leave the school as fast as possible. The only reason she too wasn't power walking to the exit was because Madge herself was taking her time and Katniss refused to be rude and just leave her mid-sentence.

"My mum would be wondering where I've went to," Katniss lied.

Madge laughed. "My dad can call your mum, silly," she said. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if it was homework we're doing?" Katniss glanced longingly at the school's exit. She just wanted to get home already! She wasn't a sociable person! Madge saw Katniss' hesitation and dug her ribs teasing, "My mum is making Pasta Bake tonight! You haven't lived until you've tried the famous Undersee Pasta Bake!"

"I'm sorry, Madge, but I really can't," Katniss insisted, breaking away and heading up the hall at a quickened speed. "I'll see you tomorrow." Katniss pushed out the school doors and hurried down the steps, leaving Madge standing alone in the corridor.

Katniss felt bad for just leaving Madge like that but what else was she supposed to do? She and Madge never interacted, so the suddenness of that conversation had taken Katniss aback and she hadn't been prepared for it. She liked being prepared for things. It wasn't that she didn't like Madge. In fact, out of everyone in this school, Madge was actually very tolerable. It was just that Katniss wasn't a very sociable person. She was very bad at it, in fact.

Katniss was half way across the playing fields when she remembered. Her gym kit! She couldn't skip out on another week of taking it home, especially not after such a sweaty run. Groaning in frustration, Katniss turned around and ran back to the main school building. Being in the school when it was near enough completely empty was daunting. The halls had an unnatural silence around them and Katniss' boots made squeaking noises against the floors that sounded awful ripping through the artificial quiet. She felt like she was disturbing something.

As she went down the link corridor, Katniss heard something. She paused, standing still in the gloom cast by the broken light fixtures, and listened. It was faint, but she could swear it was the Valley Song again. Shaking sense into herself, Katniss sighed and continued walking. She took the sharp right at the end of the corridor and entered the very last room: the locker room.

Katniss hated the locker room. The girls in her P.E class, even though they didn't even take part in most of the activities their tutor set, insisted on spraying their deodorant in abundance. Katniss didn't have asthma but she knew that if someone who did entered the room once her class had left they'd probably have an attack due to how thick the putrid spray was. Venia's spray still lingered in the room now, even though their class hadn't been in here since three o'clock.

Katniss grabbed her gym kit from her bag and left, Venia's expensive deodorant causing her to cough and choke a little. She slung her bag over her arm and started back the way she came.

She had just reached the intersection when she heard it again. The Valley Song. Temptation gripping hold, Katniss followed the sound. She went straight ahead, going past the left turning that would have led her back onto the link corridor. She was taken to the music room again. Now the music was so loud, Katniss was astonished by how beautiful it sounded. The door was ajar and she nudged it open with her hand, stepping into the doorway to see if it was who she thought it was playing.

It was indeed the blind boy. It was as if he hadn't moved since she had saw him that afternoon. Head bent forward a little, fingers dancing over the keys, so focused on the sound he was producing that he didn't care if he wasn't supposed to be in the room or if anyone was watching him. All that seemed to matter was the music. From where she stood, Katniss could see his stick sitting beneath his stool and she felt guilty. Glimmer and her posse were to return tomorrow because the jocks backed her up with lies. Justice definitely didn't seem to exist. And if it did, it certainly wasn't here.

Katniss was so enthralled by what she was listening to, and the good memories of her father that it brought back for her, that she didn't notice when it stopped. It was when the boy lifted his head and spoke that she was jolted back into reality.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" he asked.

Katniss opened her mouth, usually able to come up with a smart response pretty quick, but she was so thrown off that no words came out of her mouth except, "Wh . . . wha . . . how did you . . . ?"

"Know you were there? I'm blind but I can still hear," the boy replied. "Your breathing is very heavy."

Was it? Katniss tried to listen to her breathing but it was fast now because she had been caught spying by a boy who shouldn't have even known she was there. He hadn't moved. He still sat on his stool with his hands on the piano keys. Katniss stared at the back of his blond head in curiosity.

"Are you going to linger in the doorway or are you going to come in?" he asked her.

"Do you want me to come in?" Katniss frowned.

"I think the question is more do you want to come in?" he answered with.

Katniss didn't know why she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. She was acting on instinct and a small desire to hear him play again. She approached the piano with caution, worried that she would startle him by creeping up on him. Even before she could announce her presence beside the piano stool he turned his head to stare in her direction. Albeit, he was staring at her middle and not her face but she was still amazed by his ability to know where she was.

She had never seen the blind boy up close. All she had been able to see before had been blond hair and pale skin. Now she could see defined cheekbones, a chiselled jawline and a small dimple on his chin. He was quite cute. Katniss never usually thought about boys in that sort of way but when she laid eyes on the blind boy's face, she couldn't help feeling a rush of heat spread through her blood.

"Your music . . . it's . . . lovely," she said, trying to fill the silence that followed.

"Thank you," the boy smiled back.

"Do you mind my asking how you . . . ?" Katniss cursed herself. Why did she say that? Out of everything to say to him, that's what she could come up with?

"How do I play?" the boy asked.

"Yeah," Katniss said shamefully. "Sorry, it was a stupid question, it doesn't matter."

"Why is it stupid?" he asked.

"Because I should have asked for you name or what class you're in! Not something so insensitive!" Katniss rubbed an angry hand over her face. "I need to get my priorities in order."

The boy surprised Katniss by actually laughing. "My name is Peeta," he said. He held his hand out in front of him, which Katniss reached out and grasped gently.

"Katniss," she responded.

"It's lovely to meet you, Katniss," Peeta said. Katniss was relieved but she couldn't understand why Peeta hadn't been offended by her stupid question. She let go of his hand and placed it on top of the piano, still feeling a little ashamed for asking such a silly question. "And how I play is rather simple. I learn the positioning of the keys, and try to produce my melodies."

"But that was the Valley Song," Katniss said carefully. "You'd have to have the music . . ."

"You'd be surprised how easy it is for me to commit things I'm told to memory," Peeta grinned. His fingers started moving again and Katniss immediately recognized the tune of Chopsticks by Euphemia Allen. Katniss could feel the vibrations against her hand.

"You're supposed to play that with actual chopsticks, you know," Katniss said.

"Sadly, a feat like that would be just a bit too much for me," said Peeta, his smile near enough infectious.

Katniss looked from Peeta's hands to his eyes, which were covered completely by his black glasses. She couldn't comprehend how Peeta had managed to learn such beautiful pieces of music without the use of his eyes. "Are you sure you aren't just pretending to be blind?" she joked.

Peeta laughed. "I wish," he replied.

"You're very talented, then," Katniss said. She didn't give out compliments often but she had a soft spot for music. Her dad had been very musical and she had been practically raised on the beauty of sound.

"Thank you," said Peeta. "You like music then?"

"Not in an expert sort of way. I enjoy listening to it. My father was a singer," Katniss explained.

"Do you sing?" Peeta enquired. He turned his head in her direct again, this time tipping his head back just the slightest of ways so that he was nearly facing her but not quite. Katniss felt bad that he didn't know where her face was. He seemed to know her general positioning but judging her height and where her face resided was completely different to that.

"Oh no," she replied. She sat down on the space on the stool beside him, deciding to make herself completely face level with him. She dumped her bags beside her. Peeta had a warm presence, the sort you want to be around constantly because it reminds you of safety and home. "I couldn't carry a tune."

"You recognized the Valley Song and Chopsticks," said Peeta.

"Because of my dad," answered Katniss. "Being as good as him . . . well something like that would be impossible."

"I never said anything to do with being as good as anyone," Peeta replied.

Katniss frowned at Peeta. "Are you purposely trying to trip me up?" she asked suspiciously.

"Considering that you're the first student I've spoken to in my five years in this school I doubt I would try to do anything resembling tripping," Peeta answered.

"You're bound to have spoken to someone," Katniss said.

Peeta reached up and adjusted his glasses, his hand slow and careful to make sure he knew where he was putting it. "I don't count the people who think it funny to take the things I need," he answered.

Katniss felt a knot in her stomach. So Glimmer really did steal the stick. Katniss didn't know why but there had been a small flicker of hope inside her that had wanted to believe that Glimmer and her friends were better than that. But then, why did she want to believe that such a nasty piece of work would have even a small sparkle of mercy within her? Katniss didn't see the good in people, all she ever saw was the rot and the dirt.

"Did you hear about them?" Katniss asked quietly.

"Yeah," Peeta answered. "I should have seen it coming, really. I am but one and they are many."

"I should go to Principal Coin . . . Explain to her that I heard Glimmer talking about . . . her plan. But I don't know if my voice would be strong enough," Katniss explained. "I'd be dismissed as a liar or a shit stirrer or something."

"You don't have to worry about me, Katniss," Peeta said. "I may be blind but I'm not weak."

Katniss actually smiled at that. Such determination was admirable. "I didn't think you would be," she said.

Peeta started playing again. Katniss just sat and listened. She was in complete awe of his ability to play, of how even though he couldn't see he could still produce such amazing, beautiful sounds from the instrument in front of them. She could listen to him all day long and not think it a day wasted. Katniss inclined her head to look at Peeta's face. When he played, a small dimple would appear above his jawbone, an indication that he was clenching his teeth in concentration. Katniss thought it was amazingly attractive that he could be so focused on producing music that was so dazzling it had the ability to bewitch whoever listened to it.

Her eyes fell to his mouth and her fingers twitched in her lap as she realized how tempted she was to press her lips against his. Where did this sudden desire for a boy she had never spoken to until ten minutes ago come from? How had he been able to allure her without even trying?

"Do I have something on my face?" Peeta asked, his fingers still moving over the keys without pause.

Katniss was so startled she nearly jumped to her feed with mortification. "How did you"-

"I can feel when people are looking at me," Peeta answered, still playing his music without as much as a falter. "Your eyes burn into me like fire, Katniss."

"I'm sorry," Katniss replied unsurely, wondering if such a feeling would hurt.

Peeta chuckled. "Don't apologize, it doesn't hurt," he said. His hands paused over the keys. "What colour are your eyes, Katniss?"

"Grey," Katniss answered, relaxing a little with the knowledge that her staring wasn't causing some supernatural burn to hurt him nor was it creeping him out. "Do you . . . know . . . what grey looks like?"

Peeta sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't," he replied. "I wish I did. I'm sure it suits you very well." He paused. "Katniss, will you let me touch your face?"

Katniss blinked, confused by the question. "Why?" she asked slowly.

"I can build up an image in my head of what your appearance is if I can feel what you look like," Peeta answered.

"You wouldn't want to feel what I look like," answered Katniss. "I'm bland and boring."

Peeta shook his head. "Someone with a voice as fascinating as yours couldn't be bland or boring at all," he answered.

The knot in Katniss' stomach felt like it had been tugged on at either end so that it tightened even further. She cautiously threw her leg over the stool so she was facing him completely and nodded. "Okay," she answered.

When Peeta lifted his hands, Katniss took them gently and guided them towards her face. He didn't manhandle her or push and prod at her roughly. He felt her facial features with a touch as soft as a feather. Katniss was surprised by how gentle he was, his fingertips grazing her lips and cheeks as if he was scared to push too hard in case she shattered.

"I told you," she said while he felt the ridge above her eyelids and along her eyebrows. "I'm a plain Jane."

"You're not," Peeta replied carefully. "From what I can see you're beautiful."

The knot was reaching its breaking point. Katniss turned red, thankful that Peeta couldn't see her embarrassment. "You must be picking up the wrong image then," she said.

"I don't think I am," Peeta denied. "I'm almost positive I could draw you from memory now."

"Draw me? Okay, I'm sorry, I'm drawing a line at that. Surely you can't draw?!" Katniss exclaimed.

Peeta grinned. "You'd be surprised what a guy like me can do," he said.

Katniss looked to the ground, not sure how to pose the question she wanted to ask. "Peeta . . . if you don't mind me asking you ... how long have you been blind?"

"I've been blind my whole life," Peeta answered, not sounding at all offended.

Katniss felt a little winded, like she had been punched in the gut. "How?" she asked.

"I was born blind," Peeta shrugged. "Sadly there's no cool reason like everyone else seems to be hoping for. No loss of eyes, no eye cancer, no adventure in the woods where some poison plant blinded me-that rumour was the weirdest one. I was and will be blind for the rest of my life simply because I was born with deformed eyes."

"Deformed?" asked Katniss.

Peeta nodded. "I could get a cornea transplant but sadly that surgery is way above my parents' budget. Besides, I'm content being unable to see."

"Doesn't the darkness get lonely?" Katniss asked.

"Not when people like you come and speak to me," said Peeta. His eyebrows bowed forward into a frown. "However, it seems that not many people seem to want to."

Katniss remembered how she had treated Madge earlier. How she had ran off and left her just because she didn't want to hang out with her. Yet there were people like the boy beside her, who lived in difficulty every day, who hoped for company but never got it. Suddenly, she felt like more of a bitch than she had before.

"So you still have eyes?" asked Katniss to distract herself. "What colour are they, have you ever been told?"

Peeta shook his head. "No, I haven't," he said.

"Do you want me to tell you?" Katniss asked.

Peeta looked unsure. "They won't look like your eyes. It might be a little unsettling to look at," he explained.

Katniss hesitantly touched his arm. "I want to," she insisted. "Everyone should know what their eye colour is." She reached for his glasses and paused. "Do you want me to?"

Peeta hesitated only a moment before nodding.

Katniss used both hands to pull his glasses off gently. She folded them and carefully placed them on top of the piano before looking. But when she did, her amazement was indescribable.

Peeta's eyes were turned inwards just a little bit but were a beautiful blue. It was so vivid, so lovely, it reminded Katniss of the sea on a summer's night. They were a bit pale, like a white fog or mist had been cast over his pupils, but it didn't take away from the beauty of his irises.

"Your eyes are blue," she said, voice tinted with awe.

"They are?" Peeta asked in disbelief.

Katniss nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see it, and said, "Yes."

Peeta's smile was different from the others he had given. This one was that of relief and thankfulness. "Is it a nice blue?" he asked, trying to make it sound like a joke but unable to hide the genuine interest in his voice.

"It's a beautiful blue," Katniss answered. She was shocked to feel herself tearing up. The idea that the world couldn't be viewed through such gorgeous eyes was so tragic for her to ponder on. It wasn't easy to make her cry, yet here she was, tearing up. "You have blond eyelashes too," she chuckled.

Peeta chuckled as well. He raised his hand to try to touch just below his eye but he would have poked himself so Katniss took his wrist, winding her fingers around his and placing them just below his eyelid. "It's times like these where I wish I could see," Peeta admitted.

"Why times like these?" asked Katniss. If it had been her, she'd have been wanting to see all the time.

"There's only so far an image in a head can go. I wish I could see you," Peeta explained.

Katniss' heart skipped a beat. She found herself stroking the top of his hand with her thumb. She wished he could see her too. She wished he could see everything. Nobody deserved to live in darkness. "Do you get Ms Trinket for Mathematics?" she asked.

"In the Special Needs Unit? Yeah, I do," said Peeta.

"Did you get her boatload of homework for tomorrow?" Katniss asked.

"I did," Peeta groaned, as if just remembering it all.

"Do you want to come back to mine to do it with me?"

Peeta waited, as if expecting a joke or a sudden exclamation of 'ew, no, I wasn't serious!" When it didn't come, he asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," said Katniss. "Really."

He smile that came next beat the rest by miles. It made the knot in Katniss' stomach loosen and her blood heat up with pride. "I'd love to," he said.

Katniss was delighted. She climbed off the stool and collected her bags. Peeta reached down to pick up his stick but his hand could quite get it. "Don't worry, I've got it," she said, crouching to the ground and picking it up for him. When she passed it over, she asked, "Are you okay to get up?"

"Yeah, I've had lots of practice," Peeta replied. When he got himself up off the stool, one hand on the piano, the other on the stick, Katniss picked his glasses up and approached him to put them back on his face.

She was disappointed to have to cover up such unique eyes and paused. "Why do you have to wear these anyway?"

"My eyes will make people uncomfortable," Peeta shrugged. "I'm not going to pretend that my deformity is a norm. It would be lying to myself more than anyone else, really."

Katniss didn't like that answer but she had to accept it. Truth was, there would be people kicking up a fuss if Peeta didn't wear the sunglasses. People like Glimmer who don't have an excuse for their behaviour but act the way they do anyway. With great reluctance, Katniss pushed up onto her tiptoes and slipped the glasses back onto Peeta's face. "Just for the record, your eyes didn't make me uncomfortable at all," she said.

Peeta's smile widened by the tiniest of fractions. Just enough that Katniss would notice. "I'm glad," he replied.

It took them a while to get out of the school. Katniss didn't feel at all held back and enjoyed the stroll alongside Peeta. They talked the whole way. Katniss held doors open, told him when they were turning, made sure he was prepared for when a step down was coming, but didn't feel like she was being hindered. She felt comfortable and happy just spending time with Peeta.

They were walking across the playing fields when she saw Madge sitting in the bleachers. Her headphones were in and her Mathematics books were balanced on her knees. Katniss told Peeta they were taking a detour and they both headed towards the bleachers. "Hey, Madge!" Katniss called, waving from the bottom of the bleachers. Madge didn't notice them the first couple of times but eventually, when Katniss had been waving for at least half a minute, her eyes twitched up from her books and she saw them.

Madge pulled her green headphones from her ears and frowned with confusion. "Katniss? I thought you were going home?" she said.

"Peeta and I were going to do our Mathematics together. I was wondering if you'd like to join us?" Katniss explained.

The way Madge's face lit up made Katniss feel guilty for ever treating her like an outsider. Madge quickly gathered her books up and hopped down the bleachers in her yellow and pink boots. "I would love to," she said as she reached the bottom. She smiled at Peeta and said, "Pleased to meet you Peeta."

"Pleasure is all mine," Peeta smiled back, reaching his hand out towards where he sensed her voice. Madge grasped his hand and shook it excitedly. "Are we still on for mine then?" she asked Katniss.

"We could go to my house so we're not an imposition," Katniss quickly said.

"Don't be silly, my mum loves cooking for people!" Madge insisted. She looped arms with Katniss while Katniss' spare hand remained touching Peeta's arm, almost in a protective stance.

As they set off, Katniss didn't know then that these two people would be the two who would protect her for the remainder of her life. That Madge would be her best friend and would stick to her until they were old biddys knitting on their porches. Or that Peeta would begin as a friend but would later grow into something more. Something much bigger and much more important than Katniss had ever expected him to become. That she would fall in love and have a family and become the one thing she never expected to be: happy.

All because of the boy who couldn't see.

A/N: So I wrote this because I'm starting college tomorrow and I don't know what that will mean for my updating regime yet. The blind!Peeta idea has been niggling in my brain for a while too so I knew I had to get it down on paper. Hope you liked it! :)