Hello, hello! I've decided to write this little story to get everyone (and myself) into the holiday spirit! This story has been begging to be written for quite some time, so what better time than the weeks before Christmas? It's a three-part story, so the next two chapters will follow within the coming weeks. I hope if you're not in the holiday mood yet, this helps a little bit! Please read, review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding The Hunger Games series.

"I'm telling you this right now Brainless, this? What I'm doing for you right now? Your Christmas present. From me, to you, with a shit ton of love."

I scowl at Jo as I watch her struggle into the striped stockings that don't seem to want to progress over her knees and under the red dress she's wearing. Her short brown hair is flying out in every direction possible as she bounces around.

"Oh hush up Johanna," Annie scolds as she walks into the office we are currently using as a dressing room, arms full of green, red, and white fabric. And, to my utter horror, the pile of clothes is making noise. "This will be fun. Spending the holiday season making children happy will be fun," she emphasizes as she walks over to me and gives me my very own pair of red and white striped stockings.

I stretch my hands out for them reluctantly.

"Says the education major," I mutter as I start my own battle of getting these goddamn monstrosities up my own legs.

Johanna, hearing my remark, can't help but add one of her own. "Need I remind you that we are doing this for you?"

I roll my eyes at her, because this is the same argument she's been using all week. "I need the job for Christmas money. Finnick needs the help and is willing to pay better than any other job offer I've gotten. Annie is roped into this by default for being the girlfriend," I count off with my fingers. "Nobody is making you do this," I huff out, because really, my lack of desire to be here probably outweighs hers by a mile.

That thought is only amplified by the little red and green shoes Annie pulls out from the pile of festive clothing.

"You have got to be kidding me," I say in complete shock.

"No Katniss, I am not kidding you," Annie explains with an exasperated sigh. "Just as I was not kidding about the stockings, or the dresses, or the hats…" And she continues with the list of items that caused the same response from either Johanna or me throughout this entire wardrobe process.

"Wait," Jo interrupts, "What hats?"

Annie only gives us a wide smile as she tosses Johanna a green hat with a giant jingle bell hanging from the end. But really, what makes my own mouth drop open is the large felt ears conveniently placed on either side of the hat to cover our ears. Johanna holds the hat away from her with two fingers and fixes me with her own glare.

"I lied," she deadpans, "your Christmas present for the next five years."

Seeing an opportunity to play on my current grumpy state, Johanna happily struts over to Annie and picks up a pair of shoes, shaking them in her hands. "Hey look Brainless, they jingle too!" She points out unnecessarily. My grimace at the sound is just the encouragement she needs to start to jingle them repeatedly until they're right in my face.

"Okay, okay I get it!" I yell over the continuous clamber of jingles. I swat the shoes and Johanna's hands away from my face as she continuously laughs. "No Christmas presents for the next five years. I can deal with that." She says that now, but I know she'd be here with me and Annie no matter the reason. She just likes being dramatic.

The thing is, I really am the only one who desperately needs the money. Mom's nursing salary just seems to cover the bills with my added help, but that's just it. We just cover it. Christmas has been a simple affair for years. But last year Mom had gotten a bonus around Christmas time and we were able to purchase some extra gifts for Prim. And while my twelve-year-old sister doesn't believe in Santa Claus anymore, the look of surprise and complete joy on her face Christmas morning brought a sense of contentment to my mom.

And me? Her reaction was the best Christmas present I have ever gotten.

I want to repeat that this year.

Only, mom didn't get another bonus, and the only gift Prim really, really wants is a digital camera. For some reason unknown to me, she has recently found it a requirement to document the healing process of the animal patients she's come to rescue from the woods. I could get her a disposable one or a cheap camera, and she would simply be happy with that, but her friend Rue mentioned to me one day the exact kind that Prim really wanted but would never ask of me or my mom to get.

I stopped breathing for a good ten seconds at seeing the price after a quick search for the camera on my phone.

So Finnick Odair, photography major extraordinaire, being a good friend and boyfriend of one of my best friends, offered to ask some of his photography major buddies if they knew of anyone selling one of those cameras for a cheaper price. Turns out, what Prim wants is actually a professional camera where you have to buy the lenses separately, which only ups the cost even more.

But Finnick pulled through, finding one that was mildly more affordable. The unfortunate realization was though, that I had to find another job. There really was no other option. I searched and searched and searched. Jo helped, and even Annie started looking once she came back for winter break, but there was nobody willing to either pay me decently or hire me around the hours that I already work at Odair's Outerwear.

That is, except for Finnick Odair himself, who had this grand idea of coming back with Annie from their first semester at Panem U for break and running a holiday photography service offering pictures with Santa Claus at his grandma's shop.

It was just too convenient to pass up. I'm already at Odair's all the time, whether it's because I'm working or buying some kind of new outdoor gear for a camping or hunting trip. Now I'd just be alternating between hunting sales representative and…

Santa's elf.

Naturally, Jo and Annie wouldn't leave me to handle this alone. So here we are.

In the manager's office at Odair's Outerwear.

Dressing up as elves.

After we finally get the five thousand different pieces to the elf costumes on our bodies, Annie looks over us all with an approving nod and a gleam in her eyes. You'd think her reddish-brown hair would clash with the red elf dress. It doesn't. It's like she was made to be an elf. I still can't bring myself to even smile. I am so out of my element right now.

"Oh come on Katniss, this could be way worse," Annie chides as she notes my frown and reads my inner monologue. "It's nice to see you out of your jeans and hunting boots," she lightly jokes.

At that, the smallest smile is drawn out of me, but only with the accompanied eye roll.

Johanna does a little dance to test out how noisy she can be with all of the attached bells to our clothing. "You know," she says almost thoughtfully after she stops moving, "I'm not going to lie, this is kind of putting me into the holiday spirit right now." And then she starts to skip around us singing how it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as Annie starts to laugh at Jo's antics. I can tell Jo's half doing it for my benefit.

I actually start to laugh a little. "This is going to be fun," I repeat Annie's words from earlier.

Annie gives me an encouraging smile. "This will be fun," she repeats again.

"I could have a worse job than this."

"You could have a way worse job than this."

"It's only for three weeks."

"It's only for three weeks, Katniss."

With that, I nod my head, convincing myself that this job will be tolerable for a mere three weeks. Annie beams at me as we head toward the door that will lead us out into the main area of the store.

Johanna heads out first and Annie turns around to look at me one more time, "You will have fun Katniss," she reiterates one more time for good measure. Then she turns to walk out the door.

Two seconds later, I hear Finnick's boisterous voice come from out in the shop. "There are my elves! Who's ready to get their jingle on?"

And with two sentences out of Finnick's mouth, I feel my mantra crumbling to dust.

I pull the stupid elf hat with the stupid elf ears further down on my head so only my braid can be seen from under it and trudge my feet out into the shop.

This is going to suck.

To call Odair's Outerwear a shop isn't really the best explanation for the sheer size of the place. Aside from raising and doting on her grandson's every wish and whim, Mags Odair's second most prized possession is this store. She started it from the ground up years ago and has owned and managed the store for as long as anyone in town can remember. She worked hard and continuously expanded her building until it became a staple to our small town in Pennsylvania. It easily competes with those chain stores that have popped up across the state.

Fishing, hunting, camping, even sports equipment. Odair's has it all, and it became my haven as a fourteen-year-old desperate for a job that no one was willing to give me. But Mags gave me a chance no one else would. Sure, I was in storage organizing and taking inventory, but I was grateful for every second of it. The outdoors is what I love, and Mags saw that passion in me. Three years later, and here I am, the store's hunting sales representative.

And part-time elf for the next three weeks.

I walk out of the office to be met by the blinding smile of the one and only Finnick Odair. Even though he clearly already knows what kind of mood I'm in, he just can't cut me a break. I try to deter him with the death glare I give him, but that only seems to encourage him. He strolls past Annie and Jo and walks up to me, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"I have to say Kitty Kat, you? In those stockings and that hat?" He taps the bell on my hat so it starts jingling. "I'll be lucky that this place doesn't start smoking up in flames with how hot you look." I look into his obscenely good looking face and watch his perfect eyebrows waggle with suggestiveness.

I snort as I shove his arm off my shoulders. "Go to hell Finn," I tell him as I stomp past him toward the center of the store where I know the whole Santa Claus picture thing is going to be held.

I hear all three of them laughing at my expense as I continue to try to ignore Finn yelling after me to be careful since the whole building is made out of wood. He loves teasing me, even though we all know he is ten thousand percent committed to Annie Cresta for the long haul. But clearly that doesn't stop him, or to be honest any of them, from the near constant teasing I endure.

I stop short right as I make it to the center of the store, completely at a loss for thought or words. Because right in front of me, where there would normally be holiday displays for the Christmas shoppers to admire while strolling through the store, there is a giant red sleigh with Christmas presents in it in front of a line of artificial Christmas trees. And not only that, but there's artificial snow everywhere, giving the feel of being outdoors in the snowy woods.

It's breathtaking.

I still can't bring myself to tear my eyes away from the scene before me as I feel the other three make their way up behind me.

"Ladies," Finnick says, "welcome to Odair's Outerwear's Winter Wonderland." I turn to see the awe I feel reflected in Annie's and Jo's faces and pride shining through in Finnick's eyes.

"Oh Finnick," Annie sighs in wonder, "how did you even manage to get any of this stuff?" I could ask the same question. Annie and he just got back from school and there is no way he could have accomplished all of this by himself in a matter of a day. Hell, I've been working here the past three days and this definitely wasn't here yesterday.

Finnick just smiles adoringly at the amazement on his girlfriend's face. "Well, Grams pretty much pulled the gazillion connections she has for the trees and the snow. And the sled is a hand-me-down from the mall that they were apparently going to get rid of, so Grams convinced them to donate it to her instead."

"Hand-me-down?" Jo asks skeptically as she walks over to the sleigh to get a better look at it. I follow her as I notice these incredible designs laced throughout the red in the sleigh.

I walk onto the artificial snow and step up to the sleigh, running my hand along the golden rim. There's intricate gold detailing all throughout the sides of the sleigh that draw the eye immediately. "It looks brand new," I whisper so only I can hear.

At least, I think only I can.

"Actually," a deep voice on the other side of the sled calls, "more like extremely refurbished." I jump at the voice, not able to identify its owner until a mop of blonde curls pops up on the other side. Attached to those golden curls is a guy no older than me, smiling at me like he's known me my entire life. But even more so than his sudden appearance or how strikingly handsome he seems to be, what actually leaves me momentarily speechless is the crystal blue eyes staring back at me that seem to smile all on their own.

Annie's voice is the only thing to break me out of my trance. "Oh Peeta!" She says as she rushes over to hug the guy as he makes his way over to our side of the sleigh with a paintbrush and a jar of gold paint in his hands. I step aside with the smallest amount of apprehension to watch the scene unfold. "I didn't know you were going to be here!"

He accepts her hug eagerly while trying to avoid bumping his paint brush into her. "It's good to see you too Annie! How's the college life treating you?"

"Enjoy the year and a half you have left is all I can tell you," Annie jokes as she pulls away from him, smiling ear to ear and turning to look at Finnick. "You didn't tell me Peeta's helping out."

Finnick just shrugs his shoulders. "It's not like I could have spruced up the sleigh myself. Peet and I checked it out the other day. You should have seen it Ann, it looked awful."

We all admire the sleigh again, but the guy's, Peeta's, proud smile catches my attention almost immediately. "It needed an artist's touch," he says with a smile while walking over to nudge Finnick with his shoulder. Finnick just pushes his shoulder with a laugh.

"Okaaaay, so Mr. Miracle Worker over here is a friend of yours?" Jo asks Finnick a second later.

Finnick nods his head enthusiastically, apparently forgetting that Jo and I seem to be the only two who don't know who this random guy is. Peeta. "Jo, Kat, meet Peeta Mellark," Finnick says while waving an arm between us. "Peet, these are Annie's best friends, Johanna Mason and Katniss Everdeen."

"Mellark?" Jo asks. "As in Mellark's Bakery?"

If I thought it was possible, I would say that Peeta's smile widens impossibly more. "The one and only," he beams. He stretches his hand out to Jo, who shakes it freely before he reaches his hand out to me. I can feel my eyebrows scrunch together as I grasp his hand quickly before letting go.

The roughness of his hands doesn't go unnoticed.

Finnick laughs at our interaction. "Don't mind little Kitty Kat, Peeta," and at that, I glare daggers at Finnick, "she's not the most people-oriented person in the world."

"Screw you Finn," I tell him as I look over to Peeta. And unsurprisingly, he's still smiling. Just smiling that same, happy grin. It gives him a dimple in his left cheek.

I'm surprised at how painfully aware I am of my current attire. Elf hat with giant fake ears. Shoes that jingle with every goddamn movement.

Finnick rolls his eyes before saying, "See? You always make your words count, Kat."

At this, Peeta chuckles, which gains him a scowl from me. Because what gives him the right to laugh at me when we literally just met? "Well anyone who doesn't put up with Finnick's shit has an award-winning personality to me," he remarks with a grin.

Much to my dismay, I feel my own smile drawn to my face.

"It's my Everdeen charm," I joke when I see Finnick childishly stick his tongue out at me where Peeta can't see. Jo's eyebrow quirks at my uncharacteristic response. I normally don't contribute much to conversations with people I don't know.

"Okay, okay people," Finnick cuts in a minute later. "This place opens in an hour, so we need to get everything put into order. Peeta, you go get dressed. Ladies, help me get the queue line ropes set up quickly."

"You're making poor Peeta dress up in an elf costume?" Annie questions in surprise.

"Tights and all," Finnick replies with a devilish smile.

Annie's eyes widen before she lets out a laugh. "Finnick Odair! How can you do that to poor Peeta?"

It's Peeta that responds. "Don't worry Annie, I volunteered."

Annie's answers with an eye roll and an 'of course you did.'

Jo looks around the store, her brows scrunched like she's calculating. "You honestly think people are going to show up here rather than head straight to the Santa Claus at the mall, Odair?"

Both Peeta and Finnick nod their heads enthusiastically. "Absolutely," Finnick explains, "mothers are going to much rather come here where there's that whole cabin-y/outdoors-y feel rather than walk through a crowded mall with their kids."

"That," Peeta adds, "and we pretty much spent the past three days putting up fliers across the entire town, the mall included, and mothers were swarming us with questions about when it was starting up."

"Great," I mumble. I was hoping for the smallest amount of interaction with screaming and crying kids and their neurotic mothers as possible.

Finnick laughs at my comment. "Don't you worry your little tail Kitty Kat, with that dazzling personality of yours, I'm keeping you as far away from the kids' interactions with Santa Claus as possible."

This catches my attention. "Then what exactly will I be doing in this wonderful get up," I ask with a wave of my arms.

Finnick's evil smirk makes me almost afraid to know the answer.

"You, my little elf," Finnick says in a sing-song voice, "will be greeting and sending off our wonderful customers. And collecting their orders." And with that, my permanent frown is back.

"Seriously?" Johanna barks on a laugh. "Why don't you just have Sunshine and Smiles do that," she inquires as she gestures toward Peeta, whose gaze I can feel on my face. He looks away as soon as my eyes meet his.

"Actually Johanna, he is. They both are," Finnick scolds playfully. "I need Peeta's sunshine and smiles to balance out Kat's gloom and doom. They're the perfect pair," he adds with a wink.

At this, I watch Peeta's face turn the slightest shade of red with embarrassment. I feel my own face flush at his reaction. He doesn't even want to work with me.

Stupid Finnick.

Stupid Peeta Mellark.

Stupid elf job.

Stupid camera.

Johanna interrupts my hate-filled mental rant. "And I take it I'll be working with the lovely kiddies then?" That idea in and of itself is alarming enough.

"Indeed my dear Johanna. Annie's uncanny ability to work with children will be balancing out your complete lack of tolerance for children. You and my lovely girlfriend will be in the photos with Santa Claus as background characters and to help out if any of the kids get antsy or scared or really whatever happens that Santa can't handle. Which," he adds with a regretful sigh, "I have a feeling will be a lot."

I feel my first wave of relief all day. Because though I hate talking to people and am not all that great at interacting with children, at least I won't be in front of a camera all day. My face won't be in household pictures all across town. Maybe Finnick actually was thinking of me when he was assigning jobs.

Then a thought occurs to me.

"Wait. Who the hell is Santa?"

Finnick and Annie exchange a look as Peeta, Jo, and I watch their silent communication.

"You didn't tell her," Annie scolds him, though she doesn't sound surprised.

"Would she be this calm if I had? She wouldn't have even come," Finnick defends.

Peeta and Jo both look at me with identical looks of confusion as I glare at the conversing couple. Because all five of us know that the 'she' they're referring to is me.

"Guys," I say slowly, "Who is Santa?"

Annie takes a deep breath before sighing heavily, clearly losing the silent communication battle, and turns to face me. "Katniss, please keep in mind that Finnick didn't really have a choice in who–"

"Annie," I demand. I notice Finnick taking a step away from me.

Not a second later, I hear the voice of the last person on the planet I would expect to hear in the shop today. Or well, any day really.

"Sweetheart!" He bellows from behind me.

I watch as Annie, Finnick, Peeta, and Johanna focus their attention on the person behind me.

I turn around slowly, afraid of what I'm going to find.

Behind me, decked out in full Santa Claus gear, white beard and all, is my uncle Haymitch, arms spread out wide in front of him. "Fancy meeting you here, Sweetheart." He takes in my costume as I do the same to him, only, his jaw isn't nearly touching the floor like mine is. "Nice get up," he mocks as he takes in my elf costume.

I turn back around to note Finnick is now a good ten steps away from me and Peeta's eyes are alight with amusement.

"Finn, I'm going to kill you."

"I didn't have a choice!" Finnick yells as I take a step toward him. His hands are waving in front of him in a placating gesture.

But I don't care how placating he's trying to be at this point. "Really, Finn? Really?" I ask incredulously. "I'm all gloomy and doomy but you're going to hire my relative to play happy, jolly Santa Claus? Haymitch. The most miserable, child-hating man on the planet."

"Hey!" My uncle shouts. "I liked you and Prim well enough when you were kids," he tries to defend.

At this, I literally cannot prevent the eye roll I give him. "Yeah, but that was before Dad–"

I stop myself short when I realize what I'm about to say. Pain radiates through me instantly at the mention of him, anger a second later for allowing myself to still be affected like this by a single word.

Haymitch, noting the shift in me, thankfully plays it off immediately in his usual way. "Yeah, yeah, so kids aren't my forte. Can't do much about that."

I just scowl at him for all it's worth.

Everyone else just looks at me with varying degrees of confusion. Finnick clearly can feel the shift in my demeanor and takes the opportunity to try and appease me. "Look Katniss, I swear I didn't have a choice in who Santa Claus was. That was the only condition Grams gave me when she agreed to help me set this whole business up."

I feel my eyebrows knit in confusion. "Why the hell would Mags want Uncle Haymitch as Santa Claus? If anyone would know how awful he'd be, it'd be her," I reason. Mags and Haymitch are really good old friends.

Haymitch gives me the answer.

"Community service, Sweetheart," he grumbles.

I raise my eyebrows at him with this new revelation. Now he's got my interest peaked. "Community service? What the hell did you do now old man?"

"Chaff and I got into a little disagreement with Thread down at Sae's. He was going on about how Coriolanus Snow should have won the election for governor last month," he shrugs. "And the little disagreement turned into a little altercation that turned into a public drunkenness and disturbing the peace charge."

It takes a second for his story to register. I look to Jo and Peeta who look just as shocked as I do. Finnick and Annie, clearly already knowing the story, eye me warily.

Everyone seems to be waiting for my response.

"So let me get this straight. You," I point at him, still trying to get over the fact that he's dressed up as Santa Claus with a red furry hat and stuffed belly, "the fully-functioning drunk, got into a fight with a cop in a bar and got arrested!?"

He pauses, running through my summary in his head. "Yep. That just about covers it."

"Just about covers–," I spit out as a fresh wave of anger takes over. "Does Mom know?"

Haymitch's face softens at the mention of his sister.

"No need to worry your mother with things that are already handled, Sweetheart. Chaff and I are handling it like big boys and Mags offered this little sideshow to help me finish up the rest of my hours."

This catches my attention. "The rest? What else have you been doing?"

The scowl that is so often found on my face forms on his at my question.

"Mentoring."

At this I laugh. "I'm sorry, come again?"

"Mentoring, Sweetheart. You know, helping little kids with school work and shit?"

I smirk at the justice playing out before me. "Ha! This is what you get for telling Auntie Effie you didn't want kids. Now you're spending all your time with them."

"No, this completely validates every single argument I ever gave that woman," he counters.

"Whatever," I tell him as I remember there are others watching and listening to our conversation. I meet all of my friends' and Peeta's eyes, daring one of them to bring up any part of the discussion they just heard. Even Peeta, for having just met me, knows enough to keep his mouth shut.

Then I turn my attentions to Finnick. "You keep me as far away from him as possible if you don't want any children watching one of Santa's elves strangle him." I love my uncle Haymitch. I do. But it's remarkable how alike our personalities are, and how much we tend to bash heads.

Finnick nods his head vigorously. "I am way ahead of you. You and Peet stay out in the front of the line taking orders and I'll keep good old Santa here," he's says while pointing to Haymitch, "nice and close to the sleigh with Jo and Annie."

Jo, who gets along with my uncle only marginally better than I do sometimes, lets out a laugh at this plan. "Okay Odair, whatever you say, but still plan on having customers watch one of the elves strangle him."

Finnick's normally calm exterior falters momentarily. "Jo, please don't."

"No promises," she says as she twists on her heel with a jingle, claiming she needs a drink after listening to the Everdeen-infused family drama.

I watch as Finnick sighs with exasperation. He pulls himself together a moment later. "Okay, Peet, you really need to go get dressed. It looks like families are starting to mill about the store," he tells Peeta as he takes a quick glance around the shop. "Kat, you just stay here at the entrance of the line in case anyone starts coming over. And Haymitch," he adds rather reluctantly, "let's hear your ho, ho, ho and get you set up in the sleigh with Annie."

As they head away, I can hear my uncle chuckling.

"Boy, if you think I'm going to be any more personable than I normally am you've got another thing coming."

"Awesome," is Finnick's unenthusiastic response.

"So this is fun," Peeta comments casually three hours later, trying for the hundredth time today to get a conversation going with me. He clearly hasn't gotten the memo that there's very little I dislike more than small talk.

"Yep," I reply as I take an envelope filled with money and an order form for Finnick from yet another mother. It's actually pretty crazy how busy we've been for the first day of a new business. Peeta and Finnick's fliers clearly did their job. There's been a steady stream of children and their parents coming through our line and spending the time with 'Santa Claus' either happily or miserably. There's been more than a few tears that Uncle Haymitch has handled horribly.

The same amused smile Peeta's had at every other response I've given him shows up in his face yet again. Stupid dimple and all.

"Am I funny or something?" I ask with more sharpness than I had intended. But it wipes his smile away. A small frown replaces it, which I find I don't like nearly as much as his smile.

"Uh, no. It's just–"

"Just what?" I demand as I try to keep eye contact with those incredible blue eyes. The only consolation to having to spend hours with a guy who was embarrassed at the thought of being paired with me when Finnick assigned our jobs is that his wide muscular build and curly blonde hair looks just as ridiculous in the elf costume as I feel in mine. Thankfully for him, he actually got pants instead of a little red dress.

Peeta chuckles lightly at my interruption. "It's just that you really don't like to talk much, right?"

I nod my head.

"So, I'm the exact opposite. I literally cannot shut up sometimes," he tells me with another smile.

Oh, how I have noticed. Not only has he been trying to converse with me every five minutes for the past three hours, but he talked to every single parent and child who walked through the line while I took their orders.

Hello! Who's excited to see Santa?

Have you all been good boys and girls this year?

Did you bring your Christmas list?

Do you know which present you're going to ask him for?

Don't forget to leave him cookies on Christmas Eve!

It's like he forgets that Santa Claus is a fully-functioning drunk in a big red suit and that we aren't really elves.

He doesn't let a single person go by without saying something to them, and it is clear everyone enjoys listening to him. It's incredible to watch.

Peeta Mellark has a gift.

I don't really know how to respond to that. "I guess," I say after a moment, "I guess I like to make my words, I don't know, count?"

His smile broadens at my statement. "None worth counting with me?"

I can feel a blush start to burn on my cheeks at his playful teasing. "Not when you're embarrassed to work with me," I mutter under my breath.

"What?" He asks me, surprise evident in his voice. I'm surprised I even said anything in the first place.

I take a deep breath, preparing to get this all out in one breath so he can finally leave me alone. "When Finnick told us we'd be working together, you were embarrassed. You didn't want to work with me."

I can see various emotions play across his face before he settles on amusement yet again. I seem to amuse him a lot. "Katniss, I was embarrassed because Finn insinuated we're a good couple."

Another one of my weaknesses is reading people. And catching innuendos.

"Oh." My face burns again as I stare down at my little elf booties. "I must have missed that."

Peeta lets out a hearty laugh, but when I look up at him, his face is tinged pink. "I think we need a do-over." At this, he stretches out his hand to me. "Peeta Mellark. Junior at Capitol Heights, currently wearing remarkably tight stockings, and very happy to be working with you today Miss…"

I roll my eyes at him, but can't help the smile that spreads across my face. This only seems to make him smile wider. I take his calloused hand in mine. "Everdeen. Katniss Everdeen. Junior at District 12 High, currently loathing the sound of jingle bells, and realizing felt hats are rather uncomfortable."

We shake hands, but he holds onto mine a second longer than a normal handshake requires.

When our eyes meet again, I can see a gleam in his. "Well it's very nice to meet you Katniss."

"You too Peeta," I tell him.

"Okay," he announces, ending our charade, "now that that's out of the way and I have you talking, let's get to the deep stuff."

I raise my eyebrows skeptically. "The deep stuff?" I ask with apprehension.

He smiles happily with that boyish grin.

He looks away from me momentarily as another family comes up to the entrance of Odair's Outerwear's Winter Wonderland, but as soon as they head further down into the line, his attention is back on me.

"Yep," he chimes, "the deep stuff. Favorite color, family data, deepest, darkest secret," he teases.

"You want to get to know me?" I ask in surprise.

His smirk tells me I'm late to the party. "I want to get to know you," he simply tells me. "You first."

I'm taken aback by this, but mull it over for a second. There is one question I've been curious about since I met him this morning. "Okay, why did you volunteer to help do this whole elf thing?"

"Oh wow, we're already getting into the complicated questions," he complains jokingly. "And to think I was going to ask you what your favorite color is."

"Green," I respond automatically to the surprise of us both.

"Mine's orange," he tells me a second later.

I shake my head with a smile. "That doesn't get you out of my original question."

This makes him sigh dramatically. "Okay, okay. Hmm. Well, to be completely honest, you."

"Me?" I choke out as my eyes widen, because that is the last response I was expecting.

He laughs at my reaction. "Well, really, you and Johanna." He looks to me for a cue to continue, which I do readily, curious for an explanation. "So I said I'm a junior at Capitol Heights, which is technically true and technically not true. I've gone to Capitol Heights for all of middle school and high school, but I'm actually transferring to 12 after the holidays." He scans my face when he finishes, trying to gauge my reaction.

Again, one of the last responses I would have expected. "Okay… So why're you transferring?"

"Well," he starts, "I was at Capitol on scholarship for wrestling, but I tore my ACL during some training over the summer and can't wrestle anymore–"

"And they took your scholarship away?" I ask incredulously, knowing how hard I've been working to keep my grades up for an academic scholarship for applications for college next year.

"What?" He asks, unfazed by my continuous interruptions. "Oh no, they didn't. Well, I mean I guess they could have," he adds as an afterthought, "but no, that's not why I'm transferring. I have two older brothers who went there on wrestling scholarships, so I've kind of always been living up to their legacy instead of just making my own, and now that I don't have anything tying me down to that school, I told my dad I wanted to transfer. I mean, if I hadn't had the scholarship, I'd most likely be at 12 anyways. Finn and I live near each other and have been friends for a pretty long time. And well, I mean, obviously you know Finn went to 12 and he loved it, so I figured why not? My mom's pissed, but she's always pissed." He shrugs his shoulders. "What am I going to do about that?" He asks rhetorically.

I hadn't even known of Peeta until this morning, but it does make sense that he's friends with Finn. Finnick lives on the wealthier side of town with Mags and I've heard of the Mellark Bakery. The place is extremely popular and could easily allow them to afford a house there.

"Aren't you going to miss wrestling?"

I watch his brows scrunch together as he thinks about it. "Yes and no. I love wrestling, but it kind of took over my entire life, you know?"

Yeah, I do know that feeling, but for completely different reasons.

"It's nice to not schedule my life around practices and matches. So I knew Annie because of Finn and he mentioned that some of her friends were going to help him out with this photography business, so I figured I'd come help him and get to know some people from 12 so I'm not the loser on the first day at a new school with no friends." His self-deprecation is oddly refreshing.

Somehow, I doubt that Peeta Mellark would have any trouble making friends instantly.

"Well," I say after a moment, "I'm honored to be one of the chosen few." I seem to keep surprising myself with how easy it is to joke with him.

The brightness in his eyes as he smiles down at me throws me off balance. "It's my pleasure Gloomy the Elf."

I shove his shoulder playfully as a mother and her young daughter make their way up to the line. "Oh so if I'm Gloomy does that make you Sunshine the Elf or Smiley the Elf?"

"Hmm, I like Sunshine better. I'm the sunshine to your gloom," he jokes with a wink.

I'm completely unprepared for the spontaneous bout of butterflies that settles in my stomach at the sound of that.

Please let me know what you think so far! Also, if you're wondering where the next chapter of Crayon'd is, have no fear! It's in the works :) Thanks for reading! Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet?