Baker's Dozen, a hunger games fanfic

Hey! So we were talking about the book 13 Reason's Why in computer/French class one day, and my friend told me the original title was 'Baker's Dozen' because of '13' reasons. But it got me thinking about Peeta and what does Peeta want a dozen of? Happy New Year's and hope you enjoy! (both the new year, and the fic...)

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or its characters!

Dedicated to: Humus and Fictional-character-player (just 'cause I don't want to say your names on the Internet, but you know who you are. Hopefully...)

Katniss slid herself under the dug hole under the gate of district 12. She pulled herself out and landed next to the dead rabbits she'd already passed underneath the fence. She dusted herself off and straightened up, picking up today's game.

She shivered.

Even hunting words- words for her favorite thing in the world- words of her comfort zone- words of her lifeline with her father… The Capitol had managed to ruin those for her, or make them painful in some way. The mundane meaning could connect to a Capitol or violent meaning. Not only had the… Games, ruined Katniss' life, but they were stopping her from rebuilding and living it.

She must've looked down when she stepped through the threshold of Peeta's house to deliver the two rabbits, tied together by the hind legs. He took her by the shoulders and looked over her face.

"You're not okay?" She shook her head and he leaned down to kiss her, very softly. She melted into his eyes when he straightened up. The Capitol hadn't ruined that for her.

"Now I'm okay." She told Peeta.

"Katniss… Katniss… Katniss!"

That pulled her out of her sleep. She noticed that he was holding her down in her bed.

"What? Why are you…"

"You were thrashing. I thought you'd fall or hurt yourself." Peeta explained.

"I'm not hurt," Katniss promised him. "And I'm not going to get hurt. But… Can I get a kiss to make it all better anyways?"

Sunset skies are some of the things Peeta's been painting a lot of recently, and Katniss can tell that he's examining the colours and figuring out which of his paints look more like what he sees. There'll be a new painting in his living room tomorrow.

"So what colour's the sunset?" Katniss asked him, sitting down next to him on the roof edge, hugging her legs.

"Red," he said simply. Katniss looked away from him and at the sunset. Artistic vision is not (repeat; is not) her thing, but she didn't see all that much red; and it sounded awfully non poetic for words coming out of Peeta's mouth.

"Red?" She asked. He leaned in and kissed her.

"The colour of love."

Piano keys were being jammed down. She wasn't sure why there was a piano in the first place. Nobody played piano in District 12- she was pretty sure nobody ever had either. They were big and expensive- two things a household couldn't handle in the District. But the Capitol probably considered it just a decoration when they were still around. White grand pianos must have been like tables, or flower pots. Which is why Katniss had one in her house.

Katniss was sitting on an outstretched blanket in the living room, plucking a bird she killed when it was day outside. Haymitch sat on the couch, and he didn't take the noise as well as she did.

"Okay- we get it- you hate us. You can stop playing now." Haymitch sneered.

"Shut up Haymitch, we let you get drunk, you let Peeta do what he wants. Especially in- oh, I don't know- his house. Besides," she said plucking off a feather. "Musicians aren't my type."

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Peeta challenged. She dropped the bird, got up and walked over to him. She sat down next to him and kissed him.

Whose idea was it to celebrate Christmas?

The one who thought that they were all emotionally challenged and needed a spirit boost. That would be Peeta.

Whose idea was it to supply Haymitch with vodka and other strong sounding alcohols?

That, Katniss didn't know. But it was not her.

Whose idea was it to put the mistletoe right where she and Peeta were walking, carrying Haymitch –her by the arms, Peeta by the legs- back to his own house?

"Mistletoe," Katniss said looking up. "My mother once told me people kissed under it."

"Well, I'm not letting you kiss Haymitch." Peeta said.

Katniss isn't sure if her mother was right or not, but she doesn't mind. And she hopes Haymitch doesn't mind being dropped at the feet of two people making out either.

Katniss was just hanging on the wire fence, and Peeta wasn't too sure why.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"My hand is stuck." Katniss said pathetically.

"Your hand is..?" He shook his head. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know, I guess I heard something about the Capitol and got lost in my head and slipped." She told him. She sounded so mad at herself and lost- like a kitten in a tree, wondering how the heck it'll get back down. He tried not to laugh, and kisses her ear instead.

"Now is not a good time!" Katniss scolded.

"It's always a good time."

"Peeta," Katniss called. "I forgot to buy milk…"

"Milk? The most elemental ingredient in this kitchen and you forget?"

"Mmm-hmm." Katniss nodded with big, wide, innocent eyes. "Can you go get some?"

"No!" Peeta said. "It is minus thirty degrees Celsius outside, you're the one who forgot, so you go back in the cold."

"Please?" Katniss asked."For me? I can warm you up after." She kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

When she pulled back and looked at him ever-so-innocently he looked kind of surprised and gaga.

"You win this time Everdeen," he said.

"Bundle up," she called as he opened the front door. "It is, after all, minus thirty."

It was one of their first kisses since Peeta had been highjacked. Hewas always so scared that getting too close would be too much and he'll go nuts and hurt her.

Anything but hurting her.

But she was lying in her bed, crying. She was so jittery and she fought against mutts in her head so hard during her nightmares that the covers were all tangled and dangling off her bed, she was breathing hard and all she needed was to know it was okay.

So Peeta leaned in over her like Sleeping Beauty's prince,kisses her. She wraps her arms around his neck and draws him closer, and soon they're lying there and kissing.

He was okay now.

He hoped she understood that so would she.

She walked with him in the ruins, and showed him around,where all the buildings used to be. She pointed to him exactly where the Hob was, where her old house was(that he knew), where Gale had lived, where everything she grew up knowing and directing herself with used to be. She froze suddenly.

"It's all changed so much," she whispered. Peeta gathered her in his arms.

"You know one thing that hasn't changed?" He asked tilting her chin up with a hand gently, so her grey Seam eyes meet his. "The way I feel about you."

And he kiss her, and she discovered that how well that makes her feel hasn't changed either.

She's been going through life blindly without a clue for the last couple of years –her whole lifetime when you think about it- but now she really has no idea whatsoever.

The door opened and Katniss looked up from where she'd been sitting, wrapped in a warm blanket and losing herself in thought.

"Hey sweetheart," Peeta said when he sees her. His eyes brighten like she'd just changed his day for the better.

"Hey," she said. She was uneasy. Did she have to tell him straight away or..?

He sat down next to her and kissed her. It was a quick peck, but warmth spread through her at the speed of lightning. Maybe he could make this load better too.

"Peeta, you know when you said you wanted a baby..?"

Haymitch was passed out in their bed. Did they know why? Not particularly. But he came around drunk, wandered around the house, and Katniss figured he decided that would be a nice place to pass out.

"So what do we do?" Katniss asked.

"We could sleep under the stars," Peeta suggested.

They pulled two spare blankets out. They spread one on the ground, and they wrapped themselves with the other.

Katniss knew a few constellations her father had shown her. Peeta could imagine new ones with that artistic mind of his, not that Katniss saw any of them- real or not real.

"And that one," Peeta said. "Is you and me."

"How is that you and me?" Katniss asked. "Are you calling me a big ball of gas?"

"No," he laughed. "It's because they're so close together in the night sky, and that's not going to change for a thousand years."

"So do these two stars kiss?" Katniss said as his sweetness turned into a happy feeling throughout her. Okay, yes, that was begging for compliments and love. But she did get it.

"Well, it's you and me." Peeta said. He turned to his side and kissed her. "So yes; they do."

"I do," Peeta said.

"You may not kiss the bride." The official said. And Peeta didn't have to be told twice, he kissed her.

Cheesy, stereotypical, and obvious kiss. Yes, yes, yes. But at the same time; it was their first kiss as newlyweds. That was the first of a generation of new kisses.

"You know," Peeta started. "-that the ancient Romans celebrated a festival to their love god Cupid?"

"No, I didn't." Katniss said, not looking up from the letter from Annie she was reading.

"And did you know, that it was a popular holiday up until the twenty second century? People bought each other chocolat and flowers and stuff with hearts on them. It's so involved in history, you know?"

"Peeta, what are you trying to get at?" Katniss asked, so he cuts to the chase.

"That we should keep celebrating Valentine's Day." Peeta said.

"Alright, sure, any day."

"Ah- it can't be any day. It's got to be February 14th." He said.

"Okay, well, that's today."

"Exactly. And it was a festival to a love god…"

"You just want a kiss, don't you?"

"Yes."

And that was thirteen for those who counted; but there were so many others; you could have a bakery of baker's dozens of kisses.