"Aw, Katniss, come on!"
Peeta had been bothering her for the last week and a half about getting a puppy.
"No!" she said for what seemed like the millionth time.
"I promise it will be nothing like Buttercup."
Katniss looked at the cat sitting on the dinning room table. As if he knew he was being talked about, he looked at Katniss and hissed.
"Why I never cooked or drowned you is beyond me," she mumbled.
Looking back to Peeta she saw a mischievous grin on his face and she raised her eyebrows in curiosity.
"You know," Peeta said, his voice adopting the mischievousness of his grin, "dogs and cats don't get along…."
"What are you getting at?"
He sounded like a school boy holding a magnifying glass above ants on a sunny day. "Buttercup might hate it. It would be sheer torture to have a canine in his midst."
"You drive."
X-X-X
Upon arriving at the shelter, a volunteer had explained what all the different rooms were, what the different color papers on the cages meant, but neither of them paid much attention. Peeta was too excited to listen, and Katniss was on a mission - "Annoy Buttercup".
Katniss thought Peeta would want to take one of everything home, but he surprised her and while smiling at all the dogs they passed, he didn't linger very long. In fact, she was more affected than he was. Every pair of eyes that looked up at her, surrounded by fur had her maternal instincts crying out. Peeta just stood there patently, smiling while she crouched in front of each crate, but he kept looking further down the line.
They did this for about a half hour, until Peeta stopped in front of a crate, and stared. Walking up behind him, scowling in confusion, she looked into the cage and instantly her scowl melted.
Inside the cage a pair of ice blue eyes stared back at her, seeming to examine her, calculating. When she finally tore her eyes away from the pup's, she noticed it was Husky, with rust colored fur instead of black, and white. In fact, the rust was more orangey.
"Peeta, do you really like this dog, or do you just like it because it is orange?"
Peeta looked her right in the eyes, and the sincerity she saw there made her breath catch in her throat. "Katniss, trust me."
And within an hour they were walking out the door with their newly acquired puppy.
X-X-X
Several weeks later, Haymitch came over for dinner, after returning from a vacation to visit Annie and Finnick.
They had all finished eating, and Haymitch sat in a large recliner opposite of the couch where Katniss and Peeta were seated, Buttercup beside Katniss, curled up and taking a whole cushion for himself. Katniss stared at Buttercup in disgust.
"And get this," Haymitch continued, grabbing her attention back, "they got a dog! When I walked in they were arguing over what to name it! 'Tuna!' Annie shouted, and Finnick would just shout back, 'I am not naming my dog 'Tuna'!' All the while, the grey thing they called a puppy was laying in the living room chewing on a pair of Annie's shoes."
Peeta and Katniss chuckled with Haymitch.
Clearing his throat, Peeta said, "Haymitch? We, uh, we got a dog, too!"
Haymitch stared at them blankly. Finally, after several minutes of silence, he said, "Oh no. Not you, too! If that mutt touches my geese…."
"He is not a mutt!" Peeta defended. "He is a Husky."
"Well, fine," Haymitch relented. "Let me meet the boy."
Peeta smiled. "Come, Haymitch!"
"Lover Boy, I'm right here," Haymitch said after a slight hesitation. Before anyone could say another thing, the puppy bounded into the room, stood in front Haymitch and stared at him.
Haymitch glared at Peeta. "You named your dog after me? I'm flattered," he said sarcastically. Then turning back to the dog, Haymitch stared right back, almost challengingly. "Hello, Mr. Husky," he said cheekily, to which the puppy snorted, rolled his head, and walked over toward Katniss.
"Sweetheart, he's a lot like you," he said to Katniss. This made Peeta grin, but Katniss's face stayed blank as she said, "But not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
Katniss turned to look beside her at Buttercup, who now was snuggling up with Haymitch the Husky. "He likes cats."