recently (re)caught the writing bug, and knew I had to start with P&K - first story in a while so i'm eternally sorry if it's not up to scratch! let me know what you think! x
She's crying when he finds her, lying on their bed (it is theirs, he reminds himself, he did sleep in it too up until last week when she kicked him onto the couch) with clothes scattered all the way round the room and her arm flung over her face to hide herself from the world. He sighs, leaning into the door frame and crossing his arms.
"What's the matter?"
He can't help but sound tired. He is tired. Tired from lack of sleep (there's the couch again), tired from kneading bread all day and tired from her mood swings that she is now having all the freaking time.
She removes her arm and looks at him, sitting up. Her eyes fill with a fresh set of tears and she reaches her arms out to him, just like before when they both still had their constant nightmares. He thanks somebody, anybody who's listening, thank goodness that only happens occasionally now and then he goes to her. Of course he does. It's his wife and she's crying and he hates to see her upset no matter how annoyed he is with her at this very moment in time. She sobs into his shoulder as he holds her, the tiredness slowly disappearing as he realises just how upset she really is.
"Katniss, seriously, what's wrong? I'm getting worried now."
She pulls away, trying to gain a hold of her emotions but avoiding his gaze.
"I'm (hiccup) sorry for (hiccup) making you sleep (hiccup) on the couch…"
She trails off and looks up into his eyes just then.
That damn couch, he frowns, it seems like it's all he can think about at the moment when really he should be thinking about why it is that his wife, who's usually the bravest woman he knows, is this upset.
He blinks and she freezes, he suddenly knows why she's been so moody recently but he daren't say anything out loud just yet. His eyes make a path round the room, taking in the clothes, until they come back to rest on her. And then trail down from her eyes (yet again filling with tears) to her lip (pulled in between her teeth in nervousness) to her stomach at which point he notices that her jeans aren't done up. Won't do up.
That damn couch was a clue.
He berates himself slightly whilst a small smile plays around his mouth, thinking back to that one night a couple of months ago where they couldn't even make it upstairs. He takes a deep breath in and looks back up so their eyes are meeting once again and he asks her the question silently to which she nods. He pulls her back in for another hug while it sinks in.
"Are you sure?"
He whispers this, mainly to himself, but she nods again and only then does the grin break out across his face as he pulls back to look at her clearly.
"Sorry (hiccup) for not telling you properly (hiccup). Are you sure (hiccup) this is the right thing, Peeta? (Hiccup)"
Her eyes begin to water again. He knows she's scared. Scared that what once happened to them will happen again in the future, but he's more certain than she is. More positive that it's now a fresh start for their country. For them, even.
His grin's so wide now, he's scared it's going to fall off his face. He can't help but notice how beautiful she is, despite her tear stained face.
"Of course it's the right thing, Katniss."
He reassures her, grasping her scarred hands in one of his, the other reaching out to wipe away the water falling from her eyes. He's still slightly amazed that two people who were once so broken both on the inside and the out, have now made something so perfect.
"But you really do need to stop crying all the time."
She smiles slightly, sniffs and nods. He notices her body relax against him as the tension leaves her; clearly she'd been more scared about telling him than anything else, fear of the outside world would come later.
"I take it the couch was a clue then."
This time she giggles (he makes a mental note of the fact that he's never heard that before and adds the noise to his list about what makes his wife so perfect) and nods before pulling him for another kiss.
It's only later, after she's apologised again for not telling him directly (he forgives her as he knows she's never been good with words), and he's apologised for not picking up on the signs which had been there all along, he just hadn't put them all together (she says she forgives him once she knows that actually he isn't mad for her not being able to put a sentence together), that they resurface for air.
"So," He begins, the grin on his face returning fast, "Do we get to name our baby after bread too?"
She slaps him lightly on the arm (he makes a big deal that it hurt, just to gain another kiss) and disagrees. That's when he knows that she's back to being his Katniss all over again.