A/N: The first story of my collections of drabbles/oneshots around Katniss and Peeta's life. I hope you guys enjoy it (:
Setting/timeline: AU, pre-games.
Characters/Pairings: Peeta/Katniss, mentions of Gale/Katniss, Prim
Rating: K
Genre: Romance/Friendship/Humor
Warnings: Nothing, I guess. It's just a bunch of fluff. And maybe some grammatical errors because this one wasn't beta'd.
Wordcount: 827
Summary: She has always managed to distract his attention in many ways without even realizing it. This time, it ends with another two burnt breads, a burn wound, two tubes of ointment, and a golden ticket for a date with a certain Everdeen girl. Thank goodness younger Everdeen was around to heal his wound...
"Hobbies... and Stuff"
"I always make those cookies," Peeta says nervously, albeit proudly, breaking the silence between us. He moves his arm subsconsciously, which only makes him wince. He continues, though, "You know… the ones that your sister was looking at earlier."
"Oh," I say, "I… uh, I hunt." I bite my lip. "In the woods."
He nods. "Yeah. I know. My father loves your squirrels—he's so impressed with your ability to shoot them perfectly, right in the eye. He always trades it with our best bread in the bakery, because the squirrels are really his favorites."
It's now my turn to nod. Very awkwardly, I might add.
He glances a few times at the front door, making sure that his witch of a mother hasn't come home yet.
"So, um, you have any hobbies? Besides hunting?" he asks out of nowhere, probably annoyed by my silence. Huh, I never thought the boy was such a talker.
I crunch my eyebrows together in confusion. "I don't think so."
"Really?" he says, surprised. "Well… I kinda love painting. I mean, it's not that different with frosting cakes, so I enjoy it a lot," he says. And then he frowns, "You really don't have any hobbies?"
I shrug, playing with my nails. "Unless you count watching Gale make snares and seeing animals get caught… or climbing wild trees, I guess I don't have one." And those are definitely not a hobby.
"Right." He rubs the back of his neck with his palm, his fine hand that doesn't make him wince when moved. And then he adds quietly, his voice barely a whisper that I don't think he'd expect me to hear, "That Hawthorne dude."
"What?" I ask, pretending that I didn't hear him.
"Nothing," he says, looking away.
Thankfully, my sister Prim chooses this moment to step into the room. She examines Peeta's large burn wound on his lower arm (the boy winces again when Prim taps her finger on his wound) and wipes it gently with a wet cloth once again. And then she hands him two tubes of ointment to Peeta's free hand. "These are for your burnt skin. Apply them three times a day so the skin will heal faster and less painful or itchy in the process. In a few weeks, it will totally heal and you won't even notice the scar. Get well soon, Peeta!"
Prim grins as Peeta nods, and she disappears to the front door just like that, leaving me and Peeta alone once again.
But I could swear I saw her wink at us.
"I guess I should head home now, " I say, standing up from the couch. "Though, I guess I will be back here in a few days, if you run out of the ointments."
Peeta looks troubled, as if he wants to say something more, but then he just smiles nervously at me. "Okay. Then maybe next time… we can… you know…" he stammers, "you can come here, and have some cups of tea... and cookies... and talk a bit more about, uh, hobbies and…" he gulps, "stuff?"
It's almost hard not to laugh at his expression, but I managed to do it anyway.
Then he takes something from his fine hand and reaches out to me to place the thing in my grasp. Money.
"Peeta, I—" I start, but he shakes his head.
"Take the money, please." And then he smiles again, less awkwardly this time. "Thank you, Katniss. I owe you a lot."
I want so badly to remind him about the bread he gave me years ago, that this was nothing compared to the hope and life he gave me and my family. But I just sigh, because I'm not even sure he still remembers that event. How he even still knows my name, I don't understand.
Finally, I let the edge of my lips curl upwards to form a smile. "Actually, it was all Prim's work." All I did was wincing every time Peeta hissed at the pain while Prim pressed the wet cloth on the wound over and over again.
"Well, if you hadn't brought her here to take a look at my frosted cookies, I wouldn't be able to get her little help."
"Yeah…" I smirk as I make my way to the front door, finding it easier and easier to smile freely and joke around with him. "But I guess it was all my fault, you know, for distracting you from baking the buns… with my good look and all…"
He laughed as I sashayed outside and close the door. "See you later, Katniss!"
A wider grin spread out on my face, and I even start to giggle before realizing that this is so unlike me. I stop giggling, but the smile stays on my face.
Yeah. I'll meet him again in a few days, and maybe we can have a drink, some cookies, and talk about our hobbies… and stuff.