A/N: Birthday gift for Mellie! Happy birthday month!

Quick note: I haven't read the book in years so I'm basing their appearances on their looks in the movie.

This is pre-movie, and I guess sort of an AU situation? I hope no one seems OOC. Enjoy!

It had been a year. Katniss paced, bow slung across her chest and the quiver over her shoulders. She hadn't been successful today, but she didn't want to go back home in fear of feeling too suffocated. She'd thought about it, for a year. He's not going to remember, she thought, but another part of her told her she should do it anyways. Prim always told her they should be grateful for everything good that happened to them. (Especially with the reaping coming up.) That included the baker's boy tossing her burnt bread as she faded away in the freezing rain.

Damn her little sister for being right. Nonetheless, a smile and a breathy laugh escaped her lips. It was quick to disappear, however, as she focused on the task at hand that she had just put upon herself. Katniss knew she wasn't very...articulate. She was closed in, in fact, and the only people she could stand to talk to everyday were Gale and, naturally, Prim.

Making her way back to stow her weapons and slip back through the "high voltage" fence, she became angry that it had taken her an entire year to decide what to do, what to say. What even was his name? Mel...Mellark. Peter? Peeta. The voice of his mother rebuking him for burning the bread in the first place rang shrilly in her mind. It had drawn her attention to him in the first place. Pity had been clear in his eyes as he, in turn, had spotted her. She hated it when people felt bad for her. But...it had brought her food. She was in no place to reject such a thing in her then-current state. Katniss had had hardly the energy to do so even if she wanted anyways, she was only able to drag herself toward it and pick it up, bring it to her lips, and take a bite...

Peeta had saved her life.

Katniss stalked back into the confines of District 12, grasping at the edge of the sleeves of her father's leather jacket as home came into view. She had stopped to trade a few things, to pick up some herbs Prim had asked for. Leaving them safely in her mother's hands so Buttercup couldn't eat or do something stupid with them, off she went again. The young woman was unable to keep her eyes from scanning the tree she'd leaned against- even though it didn't do a thing to shield her from the rain- on that day, as she watched the pigs get fed.

She had to work herself up before she saw Peeta. By the looks of it, he was hauling bags of flour inside. On the second trip out, she opened her mouth. "Hey," she said.

It wasn't demanding, as she feared it might come out, but like a normal greeting. He turned to face her, brow raised. Recognition washed over his features, and he gave a faint nod. "...Katniss?"

Now it was her turn to nod. And then stand there like a fish, her mouth gaping like she didn't know how to talk. This seemed to amuse him, just slightly, though he couldn't have known why she was here, but she picked up on it. Snapping her jaw shut, she looked down to his hands, one resting at his side and the other on the next bag of flour he was about to pick up.

Certainly, Peeta had grown since she last saw him. He didn't look quite as dirty at the moment, and just a little more filled out, but not necessarily well-fed by any means. His hair was an increment longer, features more mature. A year had done a lot.

"You know...that day you gave me the bread, right, I just wanted to say, uh, thanks. Thank you," she managed to get out.

Katniss thought she saw his gaze soften a bit, but couldn't have been sure. "Of course."

His voice...it sounded like he'd known her forever. Something minute in her almost wished he did.

"I'm serious."

Peeta smiled, nodded, offered her a small basket. It smelled like bread, warm and fresh. "Take this. 'S for you and your family."

She could only blink and accept it, smiling back, but not of her own accord. She didn't have to thank him a second time.

"You like rye, right? Uh...rye bread?"

The inquiry caught her off guard, but she relaxed into her smile. How did he know? "Yeah, actually."

Peeta chuckled when his suspicion was confirmed. "You always picked the rye sandwiches for lunch at school."

Oh.

Katniss laughed, almost as though to dispel any awkwardness she'd been harboring. His dark eyes gazing into hers were now most definitely depicting amusement. Clutching the basket to her chest, one hand picking at her dirt caked fingernails she knew she had from her morning in the woods, they pursued small talk. Prim had been right.

Little did she know, she would soon share more of her fate than she ever thought possible with the baker's boy named Peeta Mellark, from District 12.

It all started with the reaping...

"I volunteer as Tribute!"

How far away that day seemed, Katniss thought, gazing from an injured Peeta to the bleak sky she could see from their little cave...