Hello again. It's another fluffy family fic (Hint: CookieCruncher loves fluffy family fics.) that I wrote when I got inspired by remembering Peeta back in the books about painting and stuff. So yeah. I'm weird. I don't own Hunger Games… but I do own the plot and Ceana.
Peeta stared at the blank canvas in front of him. Slowly, he dipped his brush in red paint… and instantly regretted it. As he put the brush between his teeth and thought, he noticed the smaller figure beside him.
Ceana Aquila Everdeen Mellark was seated a foot away from him on a smaller chair, a black beret atop her head as she mimics him. "What're you painting?" he asked, taking his brush off between his teeth. "What you're painting. What're you painting, Daddy?" she looked at him with the eyes of Katniss.
"Hmm, a rainbow, I think. But they're just so hard! They come and go so fast." Peeta replied, trailing off. "Mommy says rainbows come in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple." Ceana recited, as if she practiced the speech all her life. "Yes, but rainbows are intricate, they're very hard to paint." Peeta looked back at the empty canvas once more.
"I'll paint you a rainbow!" his daughter volunteered, dipping her brush in blue paint in an instant and started with the cool sky. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, filling the canvas completely with a blue hue. The easel wobbled at times, but the child could care less.
Peeta sometimes envied the little girl. She always had something running in her blood. The strength and desire to achieve a certain goal and impress everyone. Peeta was currently having trouble with that.
Determination.
Her daughter had the determination.
And willpower.
"I'm home! You guys done yet?" Katniss came in the house, holding her game bag. "Well, she's doing great." Peeta pouted in jealousy. "Daddy doesn't know how to paint rainbows!" the little girl sang. "They're difficult!" Peeta protested.
Katniss bent down, head leveled with her husband's, and pointed at their daughter, who was fully concentrated on her work. "Look at her, she's the polar opposite of you right now. She looks so professional. She's concentrating, without an apron, painting furiously, a perfect mess. But you're the older one, and your canvas is still empty. Earth to Peeta? Wake up! One day, your own daughter is going to beat your skills. Simple rainbows," she scoffed.
Peeta gave her a horrified look. "They're not that simple!" he defensively said. The woman shrugged. "I'm making dinner. Finish up." she ordered. Peeta sighed, picking his brush and dipping it in a mixture of white and blue paint, copying the younger artist. He looked outside, hoping for some inspiration.
There, just outside their window, was a perfect picture of a rainbow.
He analyzed the picture and tried to capture the moment with his mind.
Ceana curiously looked at her father and back at her artwork. She stopped painting. She got some brown paint that resembled their cherry wood window and made a border around the canvas, creating their window sill. She then got some of that and mixed it with her pot of yellow paint. Adding some white, she painted a half-circle just below the painting.
Peeta closed his eyes in hopes of remembering the rainbow clearly. And just like that, the rainbow had vanished into thin air. He resumed his painting and rapidly finished, hoping to make the rainbow in his memory last longer while he still had it.
Once done, they covered their work in a white sheet of cloth, calling Katniss to vote on their artwork.
"Okay, in 3… 2… 1!" Katniss hollered.
Both simultaneously pulled their sheets.
Both pictures looked quite alike, except for the fact that Ceana's work had more details.
Peeta and Katniss looked at their daughter in confusion.
"This is my work! While I was about to finish, I saw Daddy staring out the window and looking at that pretty rainbow. So I decided to paint him!" she beamed, proud. "That's so sweet, Cee-Cee," Katniss grinned. "What about you, Daddy?" Ceana asked.
Peeta stood there, smiling as Ceana inspected his painting. On the sun, painted in yellow, was Ceana's name. And the group of rainbows formed Katniss's name. "Look! Look, Mommy, look! Our names are here!" Ceana excitedly pointed at the work. "I know, honey," the mother softly smiled as she looked at Peeta. "Peeta?"
"Well, Ceana's the sun and you're the rain. Together, they make a rainbow, which is kind of my life. It's always colorful when you're both there." Peeta explained. Katniss wrapped her arms around his neck and pecked his lips. "You're too sweet," she commented. "Great, Daddy wins again." Ceana crossed her arms. "No one won. It's a tie." Katniss kissed her daughter's forehead. "Now, come on, dinner's ready." Katniss picked her up and together they went to the kitchen.
Peeta put the covers back but looked at the tiny note stuck below his daughter's painting.
Daddy's my Rainbow Hero.
I still love him even though he can't paint rainbows, unlike Mommy.
He paints my life like them. Sometimes he thinks he can't do it, but he doesn't see that he's always perfect for me.
That was weird. If you liked it, you can review. I'm not forcing you, but I might need some comments to know what you think. No flaming please? :)
Peeta: CookieCruncher is afraid of flames.
Katniss: And Ceana Aquila has always been her favorite name. So she'll name that to her future daughter.
Me: OHMYGAWD YOU STALK ME O.o