A/N: Hello all, long time, no write! I have finally been released from thralldom (school), so I have more time to write now! Defy the Odds is on hiatus until I can get back on track, but I'll be posting loads of old and new oneshots for various fandoms.

Anyways, this will be a collection of oneshots from 2 Everlark fanfiction contests hosted by flowerkatniss on Instagram. I made it to the final round in both! They were all from prompts from the contest, but I do not have all the prompts recorded. Here is the first one saved!

I'll try to update this every week until I run out. Also, these are rather old, but it's interesting to see writing develop (at least for me).

Primroses and Broken Glass

(Set after Buttercup comes back, but Peeta hasn't come yet)

A strangled scream rips its way out of my throat as I shoot up in bed, wrapped in a layer of cold sweat. This time, Madge and her family added to the ashes of my grave, and her eyes were terrifyingly dead looking, dull and cold. The faint scent of roses still lingers in my room, adding to my anxiety.

Buttercup meows softly, butting my stomach with his head. His ugly eyes widen as I reach down to absentmindedly scratch his ears. He is my one of the last remaining things I have of Prim, and I can't help but love him and hate him for it.

I shudder as my mind replays her death. No matter what I do, I can't claw my way out of the despair the war has induced. Even in the woods, I can't escape the guilt and sadness of the deaths, and reliving them in my nightmares doesn't help.

It is one of the worst tortures I have endured to watch sweet Prim disappear in a flurry of flames and smoke, of daring Finnick being mutilated by lizard mutts; again and again. I choke as my thoughts drift in that direction and I feel the blood and flames on my skin, the sickeningly sweet rose scent in my nose.

I leap out of bed, attempting to outrun the memories. I climb into the shower, scrubbing my skin raw. To be honest, I'm lonely. I need someone to talk to, to take my mind away from these things. I need someone to hold me after the nightmares, let me bury my face in their shoulder as I breath in the scent of fresh bread and dill...

I shake my head at these thoughts, surprised at myself. I think I must have accepted some time ago that I do love Peeta. Gale was wrong; I can survive without either of them, but I can't live without Peeta.

Before Buttercup came, before I went into the woods again, I just sat there, drowning in my thoughts. I thought a lot, and I realized I had spent a period of time with Gale while Peeta wasn't there and the other way around. I analyzed my time with each of them when my mind wasn't occupied with other memories, and I concluded many things.

First: Everything I had ever done with Peeta left me with some sort of positive emotion, even amid all the grief. He had never kissed me or done any other sort of thing against my will, and just the thought of him gave me strength and comfort.

Second: I now know all those emotions can only add up to one thing- Love.

After coming to this conclusion, I was so shell-shocked that it took Greasy Sae ten minutes to get me up to eat. Gale gave me some of those things, some of those emotions, but never in the same gentle and loving way Peeta did.

A knock rouses me from my revere. Greasy Sae always let's herself in, and I haven't seen Haymitch since we arrived here. Who could it be? I consider staying up here, sitting on the bed with Buttercup lying next to me, but decide I should answer the door.

I trot downstairs, realizing I have left whoever is at the door waiting for a rather long time. I harbor a little hope they have left. Prim would be ashamed, for she would have bounded to the door, letting whoever it was in immediately and offer them tea. My eyes sting at the thought of her, and I shove the memory back down.

I don't even think as I open the door, and when I look up, everything stops. My heart, my thoughts, time. Peeta is standing there. Sweet, glorious Peeta. He has flowers. Primroses. I almost cry out and a single tear escapes, but I wipe it away before he notices. My first instinct is to lunge at him and hug him fiercely, but I refrain. Who knows how he would react to that? His beautiful blue eyes are clear, but I'm sure effects of his hijacking still remain.

I start to turn and shut the door, my heart in my throat as I become aware of how I look; wet hair hanging straggly around my face, sweat pants, and an old green shirt with stains on it. Peeta's eyes widen.

"Katniss, wait! I'm sorry I didn't come sooner! I wasn't allowed to leave the Capitol until yesterday." That stops me. Why is he apologizing? I should be apologizing for shutting the door on him. I sigh, confused at myself.

"No, Peeta, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shut the door on you." I open it back up all the way, and step aside to let him in.

"Sorry." I say again. "I'm just not used to seeing people anymore."

He looks concerned. For the first time I take in his appearance. He looks like me, with burned and scared skin, thin. We match. Then I notice his flushed cheeks and tear stained eyes.

"Peeta, what's wrong?" My voice is soft and I hear my concern for him leaking out.

"Nothing's wrong." He says gently, brushing aside his problems. Stupid selfless Peeta. "Why aren't you used to seeing people?" I clear my throat, for some reason I'm suddenly nervous.

"Come to the kitchen. Would you like something to drink?" I avoid his question and silently accept the primroses he holds out to me with his beautiful hesitant smile. I don't know why, I feel like he would judge me or something. I realize how ridiculous that sounds. This is Peeta we are talking about. He gazes at me, prodding me gently. I sigh again.

"Tea would be wonderful." Dr. Aurelius says tea calms the mind. Obviously Peeta is thinking along those lines, or maybe I'm reading into this too much. Why do I feel this way, all nervous and tingly and skittish, but almost ecstatic at the same time?

As I brew tea and put the primroses tenderly in a vase, I decide to tell Peeta. It's not like it is a huge secret or anything.

"Ever since I came back from the Capitol, I haven't seen anyone except Greasy Sae and her granddaughter. I was pretty sedentary; I never went out of the house. Then Buttercup showed up, pretty mangled. He came here all the way from District 13 on foot. That's when things changed. I started going out into woods. I still don't see anyone though." Now that's out, it wasn't that bad. But then of course I had to mutter, "It's still hard, though. I'm still not okay."

Dang, shouldn't have said that. He probably didn't hear, though, because Peeta has a confused look on his face.

"Buttercup was..." He hesitates, seeing my upset expression that I simply can't keep off my face at even the slight reminder of Prim. "Was... Prim's cat? Real or nor real?" Tears obscure my vision, and my voice is shaky.

"Real."

"Katniss, I'm sorry. About Prim. I know you loved her very much. She was a wonderful girl. I remember her; she was so kind and beautiful." His voice is so sweet and sincere; I have to turn to the stove to hide my tears. "Like you." I blink in surprise, and then bury my head in my hands.

I am nothing like Prim. "Yes you are. Where do you think she got some of her best qualities?" I must have said that aloud. I shudder, trying to hold in the sobs that are rising in my throat. I feel a gentle touch on my arm, and without thinking I turn my head into his shoulder and cry silently.

Peeta immediately tenses up, for so long I pull away. But then he puts his arms around me and hugs me tightly, pulling me to him; which only makes me cry harder.

"Katniss, it's okay. I'm here for you now. It's alright." I calm down, and still myself, staying nestled against him. I missed people holding me, talking to me, comforting me.

"I missed you. I missed you so, so much." Damn, I am not in control of my mouth. Peeta sighs almost contentedly, and he brings his head down and rests it on mine. Maybe it was worth saying that if it makes him happy.

"I missed you too." His voice is strained and he sounds choked up. Suddenly, I feel wetness in my hair. He's crying. I reach up to touch his cheek and he tenses again before leaning into my touch. "I was so lonely in the Capitol and they wouldn't let me leave. No one understood me the way you do, and I felt like they were lying. You were always truthful with me when I came to District 13. I hated it there. It reminded me of..."

Suddenly his muscles convulse and he shoots backwards away from me. I glance at him; his pupils are dominating the iris, making his eyes look black. His body is shaking and already beads of perspiration are forming on his face. He is fighting against it, and for a moment I hear the real him come through. He sounds panicked.

"KATNISS LEAVE! YOU HAVE TO GO!" I hesitate for a second. Should I stay here and talk him through it? No, that will only make it worse. I sprint out, slamming and locking the kitchen door behind me. This is so awful, I just know I set this off.

I hate what the Capitol did to Peeta, what Snow did to him. I got my revenge though, and now we just need to focus on healing. The rest of me catches up to this thought and it hits me hard.

I have been dwelling on the past, thinking of what I could have done differently. Instead I should be thinking about the future, and making a life for myself instead of sitting in the past.

And to think, Peeta brings on all these thoughts.

I am brought back to the present as I hear glass breaking and Peeta's muscled body slamming against the door. He's yelling unintelligible things, but I can hear words like "mutt" and "traitor". It breaks me to know Peeta has to fight his own mind to be his true self.

After about a half an hour, he quiets down. It takes another ten minutes before I hear Peeta's exhausted and shaky voice.

"Katniss... I... I think it's alright for you to come in." I slowly unlock the door, and as I open it, glass is pushed aside. Peeta is sitting in a chair, his head in his bloodied hands. I frown and walk over to the sink, skirting around broken glass from dishes and vases. The primroses are lying on the ground, trampled, but I don't mind. I wet a towel and gather some bandages from the cupboard.

"Peeta, it's alright." I speak comforting and low, as if to a injured wild animal, as I approach him. He lifts his head out of his hands as I approach him. His eyes are murky and scared, and I see blood trickling down his temple. "Oh, Peeta." I sigh and sit in a chair next to him.

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

"For what?" I whisper back.

"For going insane on you. For trying to break down your door and for yelling at you. For breaking your dishes." He winces in pain as he gestures at all the broken glass.

"There is no reason for you to apologize for that. It wasn't you." He just stares at me, looking as haunted and broken as I feel. "Let me help you." I gesture to his hands with the damp cloth.

He hesitantly holds out his hand, and he winces as the warm water cleanses the shallow cuts. I am as gentle as possible, but I am constantly apologizing to him for hurting him.

After I clean his hands and head wound, I wrap up his hands. Seemingly against my will, I place a tender kiss right above the cut on his temple, and he moans softly. A single tear slips out of his closed eyes, and I do something so intimate I scare myself. I kiss it away, and tell him sweet nothing's like Prim used to do to younger patients. I barely notice how I don't cry at the thought of her.

"I hate this. It's so hard, Katniss. I can't do it, sometimes I just want to give up. But I can't, because I can't succumb to being a piece in his games. I said something like that once, real or not real?" He sounds exactly like the broken glass on the ground.

"Real." I tell him tenderly. I know who he is talking about, I can't believe after all this time, Peeta is still soldiering on. I decide to tell him as much.

"Peeta, you are so brave and strong. I know you can do this, and I'll be there to help you the whole way." He looks at me with the most earnest expression.

"I'm here for you too, Katniss." He leans forward and closes the small space between us, softly placing his warm lips on mine. As I kiss him back with only my love for him in mind, I realize that we are already on the road to recovery. He and I are just starting to heal, but we will get through it together; like we always do.