The Most Romantic Boy in District 12
"Happy Valentine's Day," I hear Peeta mumble as he wakes up. I don't even open my eyes, I just groan. I hear him chuckle, placing a soft peck on my nose. I used to be able to wake up as early as Peeta, but not anymore. I do most of my hunting through the day instead of early morning, it just means I have more time to try and sleep after I've had a bad night. After we've had a bad night. But last night was good. No nightmares. I rarely had anymore nightmares three years after the war, especially with Peeta at my side. They haven't totally gone, but they've...toned down?
I stretch out in the double bed, already feeling my bread boy's absence. I hear the water running in the bathroom, but don't bother moving until he comes back into the bedroom. Wrapped in a towel from the waist down, Peeta lies back on his side of the bed.
"Get up, I have a surprise for you," he gives me his young and innocent smile which he knows I can never resist.
Valentine's Day was a tradition from long ago, back before even the Dark Days. The Capitol and District 1 still celebrated it, and over the years it had found its way back to the other districts too. Peeta found a day to celebrate love to be the best thing since sliced bread. I, on the other hand, have yet to find a meaning behind such a horrible day. To me, a Thursday is a Thursday, no need to show off anything special.
"Come on, Katniss," Peeta calls to me from the bottom of the staircase. I finish tying my braid as I half-jog down the stairs. I notice a piece of black cloth in his hands and he tells me to turn around. Wary, I do as I'm told. My breathing starts to become erratic as he ties the blindfold around my eyes. I reach my hands out and grasp the banister with a forceful needing.
I can feel Peeta stroking my hair, whispering sweet nothings in my ear. But I can't see him. Without my sight I feel lost, but I know Peeta is there. He's right behind me, his hands on my hips and his breath in my ear.
"Don't be scared, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I nod my head in confidence, putting all of my trust in him. Peeta will take care of me; he won't let me fall down an open mineshaft.
He grabbed onto my hands, prying them away from the banister, and pulled me towards our front door, opening it up and pulling me through. I instantly felt the February coldness, but at least the snow had mostly melted so I wasn't going to trip over anything.
Slowly, Peeta held onto both my hands and pulled me through District 12. I could tell he wanted to move faster, but I was too afraid of something happening, so he kept up my snail-like pace instead.
We were about half-way down the path from Victor's village to town when he stopped. Faintly I could hear children laughing, probably playing out in what was left of the snow. I bit my lip at the thought. Peeta gave my hands a squeeze and let go of the left. I shivered and could hear the jingle of his keys, assuming he was fishing something from his pocket.
"Open your mouth," he instructed and I complied. He placed something sticky on my tongue, but I couldn't complain. The chocolate melted in my mouth and I swallowed with a small amount of joy. "I love your hair," and he tugged on my braid for emphasis. "You look cute with a braid; you look damn hot when it's down. I love that you let me run my fingers through it." I don't know what that was, but I smiled. I didn't quite have a response, either, but Peeta was already directing me back down the path anyway.
We stopped again and Peeta placed both his hands on my shoulders, cautiously making me sit. We were definitely still outside, the cold seeping through my clothes. The marble steps of the Justice building, I presume. I didn't venture into town very often, only to trade or to occasionally visit Peeta at work.
"Open your mouth," Peeta instructed again. This time the chocolate tasted sweeter, like it was coated in honey. I was going to get fat if Peeta continued on like that. "This is where we first officially met," I heard him swallow hard. Hoping he wasn't going to slip into hallucination, I held onto his hands tighter. "I wanted to let you know that I don't regret a single thing."
"Me neither..." I managed to mumbled, my breath caught in my throat. I wasn't one to get teary-eyed over Peeta's romantic gestures, but there was something about the way he spoke that made my insides clench up, the adrenaline swirling around my stomach like nervous butterflies.
I was on my feet again and Peeta managed to take me to three more spots in town, claiming he loved my singing and he loved my laugh. He loved how I knew him so well and how I was always there for him. He claimed I was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Just me, as he put it. I bit down on my lip again, but he ran his finger over my mouth before pressing his lips to mine. I heard some children crying 'eww' at us and I pulled away, my cheeks burning from embarrassment.
Peeta took my hands in his and we moved again. I was lost in the maze of town, not even being able to identify from my remaining senses. The whole air still tasted like ash and all I could hear was presumably the same children giggling in the background.
"Careful, there's a step," Peeta said, pulling up to the same level as him. "Guess where we are?" He smiled, backing into the door to open it. The chime gave it away.
"The bakery," I smiled. Peeta had rebuilt the Mellark Bakery last year and the residents of District 12 were more than happy about it. Showing that Peeta was doing something productive, not just hiding away in his house like I was.
I heard Peeta give a low chuckle in his throat, directing me half-way across the door. He held his hands on my shoulders and moved them down to my arms, taking in a deep breath and mumbling an 'okay' to himself. He moved away from me and I could slowly feel the panic building again, but I should have known I would be safe.
"Take the blindfold off," Peeta said from somewhere behind me. I unknotted the cloth from behind my head, letting it fall to the floor. My eyes tried to adjust to the bakery lights, but even before that I saw the five blue cupcakes sitting on the counter in front of me. As the blurriness became clearer I could make out a word on each cake;
'Will' 'You' 'Marry' 'Me' '?'
My hand flew to my mouth, an almost silent gasp escaping through. I turned to try and find Peeta, only to see him down on one knee with a ring box in hand. He flipped it open, a worried expression shadowing his delicate features.
"I love you, Katniss. I love every little thing about you. I don't regret anything that has happened to us, I know we wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for everything we've been through; the good and the bad. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, which is all I have ever wanted. Please, will you marry me?"
I may have hesitated for a moment too long. Peeta flipped the ring box closed and got up from the floor, a hard task to do with his prosthetic, but I was too stunned to even remember to help him.
"Katniss..."He spoke my name as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just-"
"Yes."
Peeta blinked. "What?"
"Yes," I repeated, not quite hearing the word come out of my own mouth. I had never been one for marriage, but seeing Peeta here with me now; I know that I was not going to regret it. We already lived together, we already shared everything. I guess marriage was just the final step.
With a shout of joy, Peeta hoisted me onto the counter and I leaned down to kiss him. Maybe having a whole day to spend with the person you love wasn't so bad after all.
A/N: Aww, cuteness ^^
I know that Katniss was heavily OOC in this, but I think she really needed to be for something this cute. In reality I imagine her to be more reluctant to Peeta's plan and probably flee when it comes to his proposal.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
I thought I'd do something cute and sweet ^^
I remembered a while back that someone had proposed to their wife by blindfolding her and taking her across town, every so often handing her a rose and telling her something he loved about her, then in the end they were at their favourite spot and he proposed! It sounded super cute and totally something Peeta would do, so I just changed roses to chocolate (because of fairly obvious reasons...) and VOILA! We have a cute Valentine's proposal from Peeta ^^
I hope you enjoyed reading this, I really enjoyed writing it :D
Thanks for reading, please review (:
Love, ChloeRhiannonX