36. Smell
Stench/Aroma
There are certain smells that Katniss always associated with the Hunger Games, no matter how much time had passed. She wondered if it's possible to forget the coppery stench of blood mixed with roses. Or the launch rooms that reek of bleach. She knew she would never forget the rotten odor of human decomposition in District 12 after the Capitol had dropped firebombs. Sour vomit had risen in her throat when the decay overwhelmed her.
Katniss made sure to take in pleasant scents of other aromas to create new happy memories. Peeta's freshly baked bread. Haymitch's pungent alcohol. Effie's light perfume. She found comfort in the musky scent of animals: Prim's goat, Lady, and her cat, Buttercup. Her favorite dish in the Capitol: lamb stew with dried plums—savory and delicious. The woody smell of nature during her hunts with Gale when they were surrounded by the forest. All scents that helped her to smile and get through each day.
Her favorite smell is Peeta. Whenever he returned from the bakery, he was enveloped in cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, dough, and brown sugar. There were other scents, but those were her favorites whenever he came home. She could close her eyes, Peeta could walk into their home, and she would know it's him immediately from a combination of those sweet scents. So when Peeta came back from a long day at the bakery the next evening—and he's completely cleaned up—Katniss frowned.
"What's wrong, Katniss?"
"You don't smell."
Peeta looked at her strangely and sniffed himself. "I left the apron at the bakery and brought a change of clothes with me today."
"Next time, come back with flour, sugar—"
"And cake frosting?" Peeta grinned.
"Yes, lots and lots of cake frosting."
He stared at her for some time with a knowing smirk on his face. "I saved a stash."
"Where?"
"Come and find out."
Peeta left the room and went to their bedroom without looking behind him.
Katniss followed after him. She couldn't wait to breathe in all of him. Consume him. Make love to him…