Hey everyone!
I've decided to try my hand at an actual story instead of just one-shots, and after watching Catching Fire (twice), decided Peeta and Katniss would star in it.
Summary: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark live together. It's a consensual, completely platonic, let's-split-the-rent kind of relationship. Or so they think. Fate, however, has different plans. Modern AU. Everlark.
Just a note, this will be M-rated in the future, so all you little ones... watch out!
The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins, I am merely playing with her characters.
Enjoy!
Chapter One
Peeta Mellark is almost done making dinner when there's a jiggling in the lock.
He turns down the heat under the soup and pops the sandwiches out of the panini grill before riffling through the cupboards for bowls unconcernedly. The stove and the broken air conditioning in their building, combined with the warm temperatures of early fall, have left him sweating. He rubs at the drops beading on his nose with the edge of his shirt.
There's only one other person besides him who has the key to his apartment, and she's not a threat.
(Well, at least not to him.)
Katniss Everdeen shoves the door open with a grunt, and he hears the rustling of grocery bags as she elbows inside. He laughs under his breath when he perceives a crash and a loud curse, followed up by a "I heard that, Mellark!" before she staggers her way into the kitchen and deposits her purchases on the floor. She looks frazzled: flyaway strands of hair have escaped the braid slung over her shoulder, and her cheeks are flushed.
"Heard what?" Peeta answers innocently as he wipes down the countertop with a rag before tucking it into the drawer below the silverware. He grabs a couple napkins and spoons and quickly sets the table.
"I heard you laughing." Katniss tosses her purse over the back of a nearby chair with a thud. She scrubs a hand across her forehead tiredly. "It's so freaking hot outside." She yanks the refrigerator open and pokes her entire head inside with a noise of relief.
Peeta moves to the groceries and, after systematically transferring them from the floor to the counter next to the sink, begins unpacking them. He notes that she's bought eggs and chocolate milk and a couple of other things he asked her to get earlier. "Me? Laugh? Never. Also, get your head out of the damn fridge, Everdeen, there's food that actually needs to go there."
Katniss withdraws her head and scowls at him, sticking out her tongue petulantly. "Shut it, Mellark." She obeys, however, and dances away to kick off her low heels. "I hate shoes. Coin won't let us wear anything but these torture devices, though." Katniss' job at the local community college teaching a forestry course is controlled by the rather dictatorial head of department Alma Coin.
"So I've heard," Peeta says drily, jabbing a spoon into the soup to taste. He smacks his lips in approval. "Soup's done. Wash your hands before dinner."
Katniss rolls her eyes but slips into the adjacent bathroom. He hears the brief sound of water running before she reappears; likewise, he cleans his hands thoroughly in the sink before ladling out two bowls of soup and arranging the sandwiches on plates. In the brief trips from stove to table, Katniss amuses herself by trying to make him stumble and drop something, yet he remains resolutely upright as he sets down the last dish and adjusts a crooked napkin.
He surveys the setting with a satisfied look as Katniss nudges him gently in appreciation. "Tomato soup and paninis? You've really done it, Peeta." He's pleased. She turns towards him. "You know," she begins somberly, "Just for this, I think I might be in love with you."
Peeta is unable to hold back his laughter. "Good one, Katniss."
She widens her eyes in an expression of mock astonishment. "Excuse me? I just professed my undying love for you and you throw it away like that?" She snaps her fingers to emphasize her point.
He feigns surprise. "Oh, did you think this food was all for you? Because I wasn't really planning on sharing –"
When her punch flies forward, he's expecting it, and dodges to the side. "Chill out, Katniss," he says, but he's smiling. Her mouth twitches upward after a few seconds and she grins cheekily back at him.
"You're lucky I like you," she says, collapsing into her chair.
"Everyone likes me," Peeta replies casually, taking his seat opposite her and taking a hulking bite of sandwich.
"Sadly, that's true." She drags her bowl forward and dunks the edge of the sandwich into it, glancing up with a smirk. "Some girls a little too much."
Peeta reddens and her mouth quirks triumphantly upwards. She's right, though: Peeta's job as a high school history professor seems to draw almost twice as many female students than male, and every single one of said female students always gives the impression of needing more "help" than even feasibly possible. In multiple classes, it also appears that his face is more of a subject of interest than whatever topic he's attempting to cover that day.
"You're only using me for my unparalleled cooking ability," Peeta teases when his blush fades and he swallows. "And for my body, of course. Well, I take that back. If that was the case, I would have taken your love confession much more seriously. I mean, it's hard not to fall for this."
Katniss glances him up and down and makes a disgusted expression. "You're not my type, Mellark."
"Please. I work out, I'll have you know. Doesn't that make me pretty much every girl's type?"
She snorts. "No. And you smell."
His jaw drops. "Katniss Everdeen! I'm offended you would ever mock my testosterone-fueled bodily functions in such a way! I have worked hard for these abs!"
"Right," she retorts. "The only reason you're even remotely ripped is because of your fantastic genes."
After a pause: "I'm not sure if you're complimenting me, or hitting on my dad."
She giggles but doesn't answer. They finish dinner with small talk and she helps clear the table before he brings out dessert – a little surprise he cooked up (literally) once he got home from work.
"Chocolate cake? Are you fucking kidding me?"
He shrugs and opens a couple drawers, looking for a knife. "I don't know about you, but this week has sucked."
"It has," Katniss agrees, watching him cut the dessert. "I mean, the first week back at school is always hell, but – this one takes the cake."
"Which is why I made one," Peeta jokes. Katniss groans but perks up when he hands her a hefty slice on a plate.
"God, you're my best friend."
"I know," he says, chuckling as she stuffs her mouth. "How attractive, Katniss."
She winks and swallows the hefty bite. "Hey, best friends don't judge."
"Best friend? Who said anything about you being my best friend? I thought that award went to Finnick."
"Ah, fuck off, Mellark, you know it's true."
"Fine, you got me. How long has it been, like… nineteen years?"
"Get out of here!"
"I'm serious, kindergarten, remember?"
"Shit, you're right!"
In kindergarten, their friendship had started when the teacher brought in a pet snake one morning. The boys had found it impossibly cool; most of the girls had screamed and hidden and debated crying, but Katniss had had the bravery to touch the snake and even wind it around her shoulders. Peeta had watched the slight, dark-haired girl with the choppy braid in awe as she placed the slithery reptile back into the cage with not even a shudder, and his young, carefree mind had decided then and there that Katniss Everdeen was going to be his best friend. However, when he approached her during recess with an invitation to play in the sandbox:
"And then you punched me!"
Katniss burst out laughing. "I thought you had cooties, I'm sorry! I was five years old!"
Katniss had been sent to the principal's office and Peeta had sulked (but refused to cry) for a day before firmly deciding that yes, he still wanted to be friends with the small, violent girl.
That was the first time he'd baked for her.
His father owned a bakery, and Peeta had been learning the ropes almost as soon as he could walk. The afternoon of the playground incident, he'd gone home and helped with a batch of simple chocolate cookies, sneaking a couple off the tray after his dad left the room. He brought them to Katniss the next day, wrapped clumsily in a paper towel, and she had stared suspiciously at both him and the cookies for almost five minutes straight before accepting them and running away to the sandbox.
"And then you sat down, and started like, devouring the cookies. And I watched you for a couple minutes, but then you finished two of them, and you looked up and shouted at me to ask if I was going to be there anytime in the next year."
Baking for Katniss has become a tradition ever since. It isn't close to anything romantic, just something that he does, because he enjoys doing it, and because she enjoys the results. They're best friends, it's what best friends do.
Hence the cake.
They both polish off second slices before Peeta pushes back from the table and stands, patting his full stomach contentedly. "I gotta get all these dishes cleaned before I start next week's lesson plan."
Katniss stretches and yawns. "I have to do mine too. I think I'll shower first, though."
She trundles off to her room, and moments later he hears water rushing through the pipes in the walls as she turns on the shower in her adjoining bathroom.
People always ask him if he and Katniss are dating. He always laughs and responds in the negative, because it's just too funny: he and Katniss, date? That would never happen.
They're just friends. Who live together. But like he tells everyone (and presumes that she does the same), there is nothing between them. Sure, they have boundaries – for example, he doesn't walk around with anything less than pants on, and she likewise covers up appropriately – but it's simply two childhood friends trying to afford an apartment on teacher's wages. A win-win situation.
Yes, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark live together. But it's a consensual, completely platonic, let's-split-the-rent kind of relationship.
Or so they think. Fate, however, has other plans.
I know it's pretty short, but I just wanted you guys to get a little taste of their relationship, the set-up, their background, etc. Kind of hastily written because I was so excited to get it up, but tell me what you think!
Reviews are peppermint bark (because it's close to the holidays!)