Hello all! Finally back after a long hiatus of moving, and getting married then moving again and so on…
This is my first try into Hunger Games fanfiction.
All characters do not belong to me.
When days are dark darling remember
My love for you won't go away
I almost lost you last September
And my heart still has yet to forgive me
Is it just me, Am I seeing things?
Or does the way we breathe make perfect sense?
I could start fires with what I feel for you
The sun could fade out and we'd see it through
-David Ramirez "Fires"
Fires (Part One)
By JLaLa
"Are you sure you want to do this kid?" Haymitch says as he sits on the front porch in his rocking chair. I am faintly aware of the creaking against the wood and I put my hands into my pocket as I look him straight in the eye.
"You're a damn fool."
When he sees that I'm not backing down he gets up to shake my hand. "Well good luck because you're going to need it boy." Haymitch laughs to himself and sits back down taking a swig from the bottle that he had next to the chair.
"I don't need luck." I walk towards my home. "I just need Katniss."
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I can pinpoint the moment I knew that I wanted to propose to Katniss. It was just an ordinary evening. I had come home from the Bakery and found her in the kitchen washing dishes. Her hair was in her long braid and I admired the graceful line of her neck. That day she was wearing a green dress and she rocked gently on her bare feet as she washed.
As I walked in, I heard her but just barely. She was singing to herself and I almost didn't make out the lyrics but I recognized it from an old record that Haymitch once played for us.
"See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sun rise
From the tropic isle
Just remember darling
All the while
You belong to me…"
I knew then that maybe she was content maybe even happy. Years of nightmares and my flashbacks had not damaged us beyond repair. There was still hope that we could still be okay and her soft singing was proof that happiness was within our reach.
I wanted to find her like this every evening for the rest of my life. I wanted to come home to her singing to herself or maybe if she would have it—singing to our children. This was Katniss at her greatest, not as "The Girl on Fire" but simply herself with her trademark braid and sweet voice.
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After talking to Haymitch, I walked into our home. We had long given up on being proper and had settled into a living arrangement that I'm sure Effie Trinket would be highly opposed to. Part of me thinks that's maybe why Katniss agreed to it. The other reason being that together we are safe from the nightmares.
I find myself at our bedroom doorway and my lips curve into a soft smile. Katniss is in deep slumber laying her on her stomach with her bare back exposed. Last night, I asked her to pose for me as I sketched. Needless to say somewhere between the sketching and the kisses, she had found herself nude and I had by then tossed my sketchbook to the floor.
Crinkled pages of paper are souvenirs of the previous evening. I sit by her sleeping form and caress her back as I kiss her neck. She moans quietly and opens one steely eye. "Morning." Her voice is hoarse and I have to grin.
That was my doing.
"How are you feeling?" I ask and she sits up covering herself properly. Her hair is loose and in long waves that fall over a single shoulder. "There is hot chocolate downstairs and cheese buns."
"Are we celebrating something?"
I pick up the crinkled papers and she smiles sheepishly when our eyes meet.
I shake my head. "No, but Effie sent us some hot chocolate and I couldn't resist opening the canister when Haymitch handed it to me." After the papers are salvaged for doodling, I sit back next to her and kiss her soft lips. "You seemed like you were having a good dream."
She laid her back against the headboard. "I was talking to Prim. She was telling me how much she liked our home. She loved the Primroses but she thought that maybe we could add a little more color to the rooms." Her face was glowing and I realized that it had been a long while since she had woken up happy.
"Who knew that Prim was into interior decorating?" I said and took her hand. "It sounded like a lovely dream."
"It was." Her eyes glaze over for a moment. "It was like she had just returned from a long trip."
I kiss the palm of her hand. "I hope she visits more often." Katniss turned to me and her eyes were shining with unshed tears. It seemed like every day we both teetered between happy and sad. "You make me very happy Katniss."
I don't need any words to confirm her returned feelings. She presses her lips to mine and lets the covers from her body fall. Katniss never fails to kindle the fire in me and we find ourselves burning in an all consuming need for one another.
Later when we are sated, we munched on cold cheese buns and sip lukewarm hot chocolate before I set off for work.
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Shaping dough always calms me. It is second nature after all these years. Katniss and I lived by routines when we first returned to District 12. During those moments when grabbing a chair or the nearest counter wasn't enough for me, I found myself escaping into the closest kitchen to bake. The twisted bread resembles Katniss's long braid and I grin to myself.
I would have never thought of proposing to her until now. It has been years since our return but we definitely were not ready during that time. We were broken and angry—empty shells of our former shelves. We clung to one another drowning our sorrows in at first only selfish pleasures but we could only stay like that for so long.
And one evening as we laid in one another's arms by the living room fireplace, I asked her if it was real or not real—her feelings for me.
She said real.
From then on, we let our bridges burn. There were some pains that I knew would never go away—Prim, Rue, my poisoning or the destruction of our families.
It still hurts to come in here sometimes to my newly built Bakery. Sometimes I think I will see my father emerging from the back of the Bakery or one of my brothers at the counter.
As I finish braiding the bread, I take out the paper that Haymitch had handed me before I left to open the Bakery. I wipe my hands before I head up to my office. I still have an hour and a half till opening and I sit down trying to calm my nerves.
The phone in front of me was a new addition. Due to the fame that we gained from the Games, I have had many requests from other Districts to bake and design cakes.
Am I making the right decision doing this? Before I can change my mind, I pick up the receiver and dial the number.
Man up.
"Hello." The deep voice on the other line suddenly fills me with an uneasy feeling.
After all this time, I am still jealous of Gale Hawthorne.
"Gale," I croak out. "It's Peeta. Peeta Mellark."
An uncomfortable silence follows but he manages to gather his wits before me. "Oh hello. How are you?"
"Good."
More silence. It is obvious that he is not particularly keen on speaking to me. I wouldn't want to speak with the guy who is with the girl you love either.
"How's Katniss?"
"She's better…" Katniss is still angry at him but I don't mention it to him. We have had our own arguments over the "Gale" topic. I do know that she misses her best friend.
"Listen," he starts. "I'm not really sure what you want—"
"—I want to marry Katniss."
More silence. What was now bad has become worse.
"But why are you calling? Katniss and I have nothing to say or do with one another." I hear the pain in his voice.
Gale is a big shot in District 2 but the small woman who is my everything has crushed him and still holds his heart in the palm of her hand.
"I want it to be perfect." I tell him. "There are some things you might know that I don't. I mean you were her best friend."
"Yeah, I was," he says quietly more to himself. "Is she happy?"
I think of her face this morning as she talks about Prim. "I think she is getting there. We aren't happy everyday but we are better than we were years ago." I rock in my chair. "I know you haven't spoken to her in awhile. And I know that you still feel something for her but I love her too."
"She never loved me like she loves you," he replied. "She chose you. I chose to leave and you went back for her. In the end, we have to live with our decisions—I have to live with mine."
We are silent for a moment. "Treat this like a hunt."
"A hunt?"
"Katniss is always in her element when she hunts," he informs me. "Treat it like she would when she's about to catch her pray. Quietly, calmly and with full intent for the target."
"I'm not much of a hunter."
"Well learn to be," he says harshly. "I miss her you know."
"We have a phone at the house," I inform him. "She is only a call away."
We both know that he won't call. She wouldn't want him to. There is still a lot of anger, frustration and confusion on her end. Though I know she feels nothing but a brotherly love for him she can't seem to express her feelings about him when I ask.
"What's done is done." I hear him sigh into the phone. "I've been talking to Johanna. She tells me that you've both created a beautiful home with one another. She also said that Katniss is very much in love with you. I won't lie but it hurt when she said it."
"Well, I'm very much in love with her," I tell him.
"Listen Peeta." His voice is thick. "I have to get going—meeting in a few minutes. Remember what I said about the hunt."
"I will."
"Tell Katniss…tell her I think about her and Prim every day."
"Thank you Gale." And I really am grateful. I realize that the jealous pang in me has ebbed.
We hang up and I am suddenly very tired.
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"Peeta, wake up." I look up from the desk to see Katniss peering down at me worriedly. "You have half an hour till the bakery opens."
I spring from my chair. "Oh crap." I rush downstairs to find that the displays are all in place. The kitchen is clean and the bread that I had been arranging was baking in the oven. "You did all this?"
She clasped her hands together and her cheeks darken. "Hopefully I did it right. You know me. The Undomesticated Goddess."
I take her in my arms and kiss her soundly.
"It looks wonderful," I say to her. "You are wonderful."
"Only because I let you sketch me naked," she replies cheekily.
"Well it does help." Our lips meet again and that wonderful fire begins to spread between us. I contemplate not bothering to open and making love to her right on the kitchen floor.
"Damnit, no one needs to see that!" We jump apart and are greeted by Haymitch glaring at us.
Katniss looks at him calmly. "Good morning." She puts a hand on her hip. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm just dropping something off to your little boy toy here." He hands me another slip of paper and I nod gratefully before stuffing it into my pocket. He salutes Katniss and grins. "See you around sweetheart."
My face is still burning when she puts her cool hand against my cheek and I lean into it closing my eyes. When I open them, I see her gazing at me. Such pretty grey eyes.
"What was that?" She asks me and her eyes go to my pocket.
"Some people from District Four who are thinking of buying a cake from me," I answer quickly.
For a moment, I can see she wants to call my bluff. Instead she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me softly. "I have a few trades to do but I'll be home by the time you close."
I nod and kiss the tip of her nose. She grins and pulls away to leave.
As she walks away, I admire her figure and suddenly I find myself wolf-whistling. Katniss turns and gives me a saucy wink before leaving.
I love that girl.
Like it? Please say you do. It's been awhile since I've done this.
The song that Katniss sings is "You Belong to Me". I'm using the Tori Amos version.
There is a better version of Fires by David Ramirez on YouTube. I've been listening to it non-stop.
This was never intended to be a multi-part but it suddenly has become one.
NEXT: Katniss's POV. A special appearance from Johanna and we delve into Prim's dream visit a little more.