"It's something out of an old tale: a golden young man in a white bearskin, striking strange bargains with desperate souls on the cruelest night of winter." Peeta Mellark, winner of the 74th Hunger Games, returns from his Victory Tour to make the starving Everdeens an offer they can't refuse. Canon divergent, based on the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."

Katniss Everdeen only plans on making a simple trade with District Twelve's young victor, but an unexpected blizzard leads to more than she'd bargained for.

It's a new national holiday, Plutarch explains. Victory Day. The day after the bombs went off. Katniss & Peeta in the world that's post-everything: post-war, post-hijacking, post-Prim.

"A game, my dear. A final game. Because I need only one of you." Snow raises a hand, runs a finger down the camera lens. As though it's my throat. "I'd prefer it be you."

I can tell the moment he sees me through the glass wall; his eyes widen and he sits up straighter. He stands just as I burst through the door. And then I'm in his arms. And then I break down. [Mockingjay AU, Peeta is rescued from the Capitol unharmed. Follow up to "hold me, hold me (never let me go)".]

"I don't need it," Peeta says firmly. "I don't want anything from you." And it's not true, there are things he wants from Katniss; her smile, her laugh, her warm breath on his neck, her body moving beneath his in the dark. But he doesn't want them as part of an exchange. He wants them because she wants him to have them. (AU - Gale dies in the Hunger Games.)

I know how she kisses when she's sleepy, or hungry, or angry. I know the feel of her warm body curled against mine beneath the sheets, and the panicky, strangled noises she makes when she's caught in a nightmare. And I know that she would never leave a loved one behind, even if she can't admit she loves him. Peeta's POV of Gale's whipping & aftermath, for the Everlark SS exchange.

Katniss and Peeta slowly grow back together, despite being so broken. The story begins during the final chapter of 'Mockingjay', before the epilogue, and chapters get longer and more detailed as Katniss slowly heals.

"Do you think we could've still been friends, if all this had never happened?" Katniss & Peeta, the night after their day on the roof. Set during Catching Fire.

What went on between Katniss and Peeta on the train during their Victory Tour. Peeta's POV.

Katniss and Peeta, and the process of healing. Post-Mockingjay, pre-epilogue.

How Katniss and Peeta fell in love without the Reaping: in a Panem dictated by a violent Peace instead of twisted Games, Katniss and Peeta Mellark try to piece their lives together as they watch another girl catch fire.

"I'll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out." Katniss and Peeta are forced to confront their demons as they struggle to make sense of their new complex relationship back in District 12. Pre-epilogue. Rated M for very adult themes.

Katniss and Peeta in the weeks and months after the war.