A belated Easter special. This idea bludgeoned me over the head until I was convinced that it was a good one. By the time I came to my senses, I'd written half of it and was far too invested. Please enjoy this unsystematic chapter to Everlark's seasonal adventures.

Also didn't realise that I hadn't marked this fic as complete until now. Oops...

Maundy Thursday

'Everything all right here, Peet?'

Peeta exhaled slowly in the hope it would soothe his irritation and turned to where his brother's vexatious head poked out from the door. 'Just as all right as it is was five minutes ago, Ry. Thanks for asking.' He lifted a sack of flour onto his shoulder, his whole arm straining with the effort.

'Great. Awesome. So I'm going back inside for a bit, and you can carry on with your flour duty.'

'Why am I always the one lugging in flour sacks now?' Peeta demanded, though he was painfully aware of the reason. He just wanted to see if Ry had the gall to admit it.

Ry had known him long enough – namely his whole life – to sense Peeta's game and divert it from his intended path. 'Might want to smear a bit of flour on your face. They go crazy for that.'

'What, are you my personal stylist as well as my unofficial, unasked-for manager now?' Peeta asked, tucking another sack under his arm. He followed Ry back into the house.

Hysterical squeals and all too familiar camera flashes accompanied his entrance, and Peeta shut his eyes before they could rob him of all his sensory abilities. The lurid crowd of young – and not so young…or female – Capitol girls were torn between watching him in frozen reverence and rushing to touch him in some way. The flour sacks became functional shields; he held them up for them to examine and asked them for extreme caution. Only then did the more demonstrative…fans, he supposed he could call them, fall back with solemn nods. He did his job then, reprised his role as the charming delivery boy who won the heart of Katniss Everdeen – and a significant portion of the Capitol with it – smiling and joking, posing for pictures and hedging enquiries into his and Katniss's "life together".

After that ordeal, he trudged toward the kitchen, distinctly aware of Ry swooping in on his leftovers with samples of new bakes to try. Thus had been the pattern of Peeta's working life for a good while now.

The force with which he slammed the flour onto a kitchen counter made his quiet, collected father jump and look up at him. 'Sorry, Dad.'

I should be grateful, he reminded himself. Ever since the finale of the acclaimed series that he had so unwittingly starred in, there had been unnatural interest in District Twelve. Yes, the same eternally brown, dusty, ramshackle district that most Capitolites had liked to pretend never existed. The people of Twelve had Katniss and Peeta ("Peeniss" as Ry had informed him with intense delight, though even that was better than "The Star-crossed Lovers") to thank for the increased infestation of Capitol folk in their sleepy town. On the flipside, they were also held responsible for the boosted economy and the renovations the more dilapidated parts of the town were undergoing. The Hob was thriving, the town square bustling, everything treated to a lick of paint and a sprinkle of funds.

Still, if Peeta got one more perfumed packaged signed from his "true love" in his mailbox, he was pretty sure he'd personally chase every single Capitolite from Twelve, scattering them like chickens.

Hadn't he implied that Katniss was the only one he wanted to fill that position? Again and again in increasingly unsubtle ways? That was what had sent them swooning in the first place, right?

"Looks like your dogged commitment and perpetual smiling has earned you the big bucks, kid,' Haymitch had said as they counted their gains from the lawsuit they'd filed against Domitius Roe and various Capitol production companies. As much as the man liked to gripe, he was one hell of a lawyer. Katniss and Peeta now had enough to live on for the rest of their lives, buy a house together. He smiled absently to himself as he went to don an apron.

'How you holding up, little bro?' Bran – his secretly preferred brother – asked. 'Ry's not exploiting your celebrity too much?'

'He might as well while it still lasts,' Peeta murmured resignedly.

Bran slapped his shoulder in commiseration and held his other hand out, palm upturned. 'Here, quick, have some chocolate chips. Mom won't miss a few.'

'Bran! You know I've given up snacking in the kitchen.'

'Oh,' Bran tossed the chocolate chips into his own mouth, 'you're still doing that weird Lent thing? When's it over?'

'Now that part was harder to work out. You see, Lent ends today, but theLenten Fast ends in two days from now.'

'And what does that mean?'

'No idea. You're better off asking Katniss. She's the one who likes reading up on all of these pre-Panem traditions. You'd think she'd be put off completely after that whole Christmas fiasco.'

'Wouldn't call it a whole fiasco. It brought you together, didn't it?' Bran grinned.

Peeta returned the smile thankfully. 'Yeah, it did.'

'And now you're eternally bound to re-enacting ancient traditions with her.'

Peeta blushed. 'I'm not bound to anything.'

'Oh yeah? You should probably wiggle your neck before that leash gets too tight.'

'Screw you. Katniss's worse off than I am. Remember she gave up cheese buns.'

Bran's face immediately went sombre. 'She loves those things.'

'I know. We're all being as supportive as we can.'

Her family had been brilliant. In a show of solidarity, Prim had given up on trying to bathe the cat. Although Katniss was unsure if this merited sacrificing, she had appreciated the effort.

Ry intercepted his pensiveness by bursting into the kitchen. 'Four apple tartlets, two seeded loaves, a whole cheesecake, five éclairs, half the cupcakes and pretty much all the cheese buns,' he declared triumphantly. 'All sold thanks to our baby brother here. I knew you weren't the pretty one for nothing. Now, next time we should give them some real incentive. If I accidentally tripped over out front and spilled juice all over your shirt, you'd have no choice but to take it off and–'

Peeta growled. 'Damnit, Ry, I'm a baker not a shop display.' The middle Mellark squeaked as his baby brother wrestled him to the ground. Their elder brother simply looked on and laughed.

…

The Capitol rush died down an hour or so before dusk. Only then did Peeta feel safe to man the counter. The shop was sparsely populated by familiar faces now, people he could name on sight, most of whom had been frequenting this bakery for as long as he could remember. This was the way it should be. A hunched figure wrapped tightly in a shawl stood before the counter, her face hidden by her stooped posture. Thinking about it, Peeta couldn't immediately identify this one.

'How may I help you, ma'am?' he asked with a smile she didn't glance up to see.

'Ah, yes,' she said in a hoarse, unmusical soprano, 'I would like one of them fine cheese buns if you would be so kind, sonny boy.'

Peeta blinked his bewilderment before recognition warmed him and made him chuckle. 'Right away, ma'am, and would you like anything else?'

'No, that would be all…young man.'

A giddy fondness stretched his grin to maximum, even as he took the woman's shawl and pulled it from her head. Beneath it stood his beautiful – Peeta thought – girlfriend, who was currently glaring fiercely at him.

'You're going to have to do better than that, Sweetheart,' Peeta said, leaning on the counter.

Katniss straightened into her usual elegant stance, drawing the standard mix of awe and pride from him.

'Just give me one.'

'No can do.'

The anger that sharpened the silver of her eyes gave way to anxiety. 'Please, Peeta. Just one, half, a bite at least. Just one bite.'

'You said you would be strong.'

'I can't take it anymore. It's been over forty days. I'm starting to forget what they taste like.'

'Maybe that's for the best.'

'You jerk!'

'Hey, I stood by my aim. I've watched my brothers eat the freaking cookie dough without me more times than I'd like to remember. You can do it too.'

'It's hard.'

'Only two more days, K. You've been through harder times than this.'

Katniss nodded. She didn't need to be reminded of the hungry, desperate weeks that followed her father's death or how Peeta, with two loaves of burnt bread, had inspired her to alleviate them.

'You can have pretty much anything else.'

While Peeta served some other customers, Katniss surveyed the glass-fronted display case before her, her gaze alighting on the savoury items, he noticed. He knew which one she would pick before she pointed at it through the glass. 'That one with the nut and the raisins. You're still making it?'

'Yeah, you want some?'

Wordlessly, she nodded, looking almost bashful.

'Coming right up. And I don't have to burn it this time,' he said, selecting the plumpest loaf and sliding it across the table to her.

Katniss laughed softly, reaching for the moneybag that had habitually replaced her hunting sack.

'You don't have to pay.'

She treated him to a withering glare, pushing the coins at him with no room for argument. She could afford it; he could afford it; the bakery couldn't. Sighing, he scooped up the money and deposited it in the register. 'Thank you for your custom.'

With cat-like grace, Katniss swung herself onto the counter. 'How long have you got left?'

'About an hour.'

Katniss took an impressively large bite out of the loaf. Even now, she ate like a starving person. 'I can wait.'

'You'd better.'

He seized her around the waist and pulled her close, gnawing at her neck as if it tasted of cinnamon and sugar.

'Peeta!' she protested. 'Jeez, not now.'

He knew about her aversion to overcooked public displays of affection, he really did, but how did she expect him to restrain himself when she sat mere inches from him, looking and smelling so irresistible. He'd waited twelve years for her. Now all his fortitude had been exhausted. 'I should have given you up for Lent,' he murmured ruefully, kissing her on the cheek.

'That would have been unacceptable,' Katniss replied, smiling despite herself at the touch of his lips. She tore off another chunk of bread rather violently with her teeth. Peeta held open his mouth, saying "ahhhh" until she ripped off a piece and popped it into his mouth.

'And impossible,' Peeta added with a rueful smirk.

'Your mom would have liked that, though.'

'She's warming to you.'

'Oh really?' Her eyes were downcast, Peeta saw, to hide the glint of hope in them.

Peeta paused. 'Ever since we started dating, the bakery's revenue has practically tripl–'

Katniss groaned and took an aggressive bite of bread for her efforts. 'Of course it comes down to that,' she grumbled between vicious chews. Peeta slowly unclasped his arms from her waist and inched away.

More customers came and went, gawping in quite disbelief at the skinny girl perched on the counter seemingly set on devouring a whole loaf of bread in one sitting. She was still there, halfway through and beginning to flag, when Peeta's mother descended from the Mellark home and began to talk at Peeta before he could even say hello.

'Oh, so you're working are you? Finally remembering how to pull your weight? It's fine that you're a nationwide celebrity, bringing custom from the Capitol and Two and wherever else they come from, but that's no excuse to shirk your work.'

She paused when she saw Katniss soiling the countertop with her presence and daring to swing her legs in a childish claim. And in that still moment, they exchanged glowers so eerily identical that Peeta shrank back even further and began to question his life choices.

'Good evening, Mrs Mellark,' said Katniss, reverting to a smile she'd often seen Peeta use when tackled with a difficult customer. Peeta patted her shoulder with teacherly pride.

'Good evening.'

Mrs Mellark's scowl seemed incised into her face by now, and it was aimed more-or-less directly at the loaf in Katniss's hands. The girl had the audacity to hold it up and smirk triumphantly, 'Don't worry, I paid for it this time!'

Katniss, Peeta sighed internally. 'Oh look at the time. My shift's over. I'll walk Katniss home now like the respectable boy you raised so well.'

Mrs Mellark watched with mounting disdain as Peeta frantically disposed of his apron, rushed around the counter and threw Katniss over his shoulder. The girl looked completely unperturbed, waving and taking large, smug bites out of the bread as Peeta carried her down the road.

'You take unnatural pleasure out of antagonising my mother,' Peeta said, once they were a safe distance from the aforementioned woman and walking side by side. 'She's not all bad, you know.'

Katniss frowned. 'She hurt you.'

'Not anymore.'

'That's not the same as not ever. I don't know how anyone with a soul could hurt you.'

Peeta hated that bitter, scathing look on her face. He didn't want to be the reason for it, even by relation. He took her hand and squeezed. 'Really? Because you trapped my foot in that door last week.' Katniss nudged him and Peeta nudged her back, stealing a fistful of her loaf and cramming it into his mouth for good measure. They hustled and tussled, thieved and teased, bantered and bartered until they almost walked into a metal fence.

'Oh,' said Katniss.

Their feet had naturally taken them to the forest again, even though it was now inaccessible, walled all the way round by a live electric barrier. This had been a price of their Capitol exposure that was bigger than privacy or peace of mind. Officials had come and taken her forest from her. It still sang to her through the metal: springtime green yet eternally beautiful. It smelled divine.

'Come on,' Peeta said gently, 'let's head somewhere else.'

Katniss trembled, looking for all his imagination like a doe forced to leave her young. Or something similar. There was something so wild about Katniss, so of-the-forest, that the metaphor worked. He held her and tenderly guided her away. And suddenly he wasn't so unsettled by the antipathy toward his mother or the madness over the cheese buns; they were just smaller manifestations of this greater discontent. He wasn't sure what to do about that.

On his way back home from Katniss's, much later than he had initially intended, he stopped by the Justice Building. The blockading of the forest had made a scholar out of Katniss, and she frequented the book-filled cellar with the same fervour she'd once lent to hunting, but Peeta had only been down here once or twice. It was too dark for him, musty, dead. Still, he pressed on to the back shelf where the pre-Panem volumes were haphazardly stacked and began his search.

'Easter, Easter,' he murmured, trailing his fingers along the spines but stopping when some of them crumbled off beneath his fingers. 'A-ha.'

He found only found two relevant books, though there were plenty for Christmas and "Hallowe'en", whatever that was and however you said it. Still, Peeta thought that would be enough. Dragging a light toward him, he sat at the nearest table and began to read.

Good Friday

Early next morning, while it was still dark, Peeta got up and padded into the kitchen. He gathered everything he thought he would need: flour, butter, milk, yeast, salt, sugar, spices and some fruit that was still fresh from yesterday. Rolling up his sleeves, Peeta set to it.

By the time Katniss appeared in the bakery, he had several hastily scrubbed trays of botched batches for his efforts, and one that was perfect.

'Back so soon?' Peeta asked, leaning on the counter with a small smile.

'Here to torture myself a bit more,' she replied drily, carefully averting her eyes from where the chees buns were stacked.

'One day left now.'

'It couldn't come sooner.'

'Well, perhaps these will suffice until then.'

Peeta slid a wicker basket across the counter to her. With a guarded expression, she opened the hatch, but that soon melted away when she looked inside. There were rows of plump buns, each quartered by a perfect white cross.

'Hot cross buns,' Katniss grinned, actually grinned.

'I went to the Justice Building, researched a bit. I thought you would like–'

Katniss pulled him forward by the neck and kissed him, unhindered, unapologetic, in full view of the bakery's customers. He leaned further over the counter, looped and arm around her shoulders and revelled in the moment.

'Peeniss!' some screeched.

They broke apart. 'Excuse me?' Peeta said.

There were a few of them standing in the doorway, each with hair dyed a deplorably brighter shade than the last. Their ringleader, her tresses the colour of liquid gold, stepped forward, her manic purple eyes raking over the entwined teenagers. 'It's Peeniss! Right there! Aren't they just to die for?!'

'They're glorious!'

'Katniss, can you sign my authentic mailing sheet?'

'Sign my face, Peeta!'

'You are not signing that girl's face,' Katniss told Peeta.

'You do not have to tell me that.'

The Capitolites were almost upon them, and Katniss climbed onto the counter to evade their grasping hands.

'Come down onto the other side. We could hide in the kitchen.'

'And let them follow us? One little counter isn't going to stop them. They'll swarm the place.'

Ry came out into the storefront, took one glance at the scene and ducked back into the kitchen, laughing heartily. A few seconds later, Bran barrelled into the room, howling at the top of his lungs and holding a sack of flour over his head.

'Leave them alone! Flour bomb!' He dashed the sack into the floor, releasing a satisfying puff of white throughout the bakery. 'Run, you kids! Always wanted to do that.'

Peeta vaulted over the counter, Katniss scooped up the basket, and they ran for the bakery door.

…

Mrs Everdeen was the one to greet them at the door, and she did not look at all impressed by their appearance.

'Not in my house,' she told them with the rare assertion she only took on at the most unhelpful times. And then she shut the door.

'Wow, that was cold,' said Peeta. 'Finally seeing the relation between you two.' He laughed when she punched him in the arm and cradled her fist immediately after.

'Stupid baker arms.'

'You love my baker arms.'

Unable to lie, Katniss bore his glee in dignified silence. Prim was the next to open the front door, and she looked between the two ghostly figures with great incredulity. 'Is that flour you're covered in?'

'Yes.'

Prim's eyes widened with possibilities. 'Oh…oh…were you getting a bit wild in the kitchen?'

'What? No!' Katniss screeched.

'You don't have to be ashamed.'

'I'm not ashamed because that's not what happened,' Katniss insisted, grateful that the dusting of flour could at least mask her flushing face.

'Peeta is suspiciously silent.'

The previously blond boy grinned. 'Prim, lovely to see you. Come and give your favourite baker a big hug.'

Prim shrieked, ducked away from his outstretched, floury arms and hurtled back inside. The door slammed behind her.

'That could have gone better.'

Katniss nodded fervently.

The third person to open the door was Rory Hawthorne, who looked even more ungainly and uncertain than usual when he saw the elder teens.

'Rory? What are you doing here?!'

'Er, I don't know. Prim said I could come over.'

'And my mom let you?'

'Yeah, she said it was all right.'

'Typical, once the older daughter sways her on a subject, she's suddenly so lenient with the younger sister,' Katniss said with no real bite. Something that Rory didn't quite catch judging by the rising alarm on his face.

'D-do you want to come in?'

'I don't think we're allowed,' said Katniss.

'What's he doing?' Rory's precarious, adolescent voice squeaked even higher.

Katniss turned to discover that Peeta was rolling about on the grass, a beatific expression on his face. 'I think the flour's coming off,' he called out, the sentence half-muffled.

Rory looked to Katniss beseechingly, as if asking her what to think of his antics. Was it a gag or an act of wisdom? She looked down at her boyfriend, just about deciding that she would keep her reputation as the sane partner in the relationship, when he rolled closer and tackled her to the ground. She resisted for an extremely unimpressive amount of time before surrendering, shimmying about in the grass.

'What are they doing?' she heard Prim ask her gentle-boy caller.

Rory's mumbled reply was too quiet for her to hear, but he sounded highly terrified by this current happening. Prim flitted over to them, dropped to the ground beside Katniss and started rolling too. They all called to Rory to join in. He went even more reluctantly than Katniss had, still baffled by the Everdeen/Mellark household, and yet somehow ready to come part of it.

Katniss and Peeta were barely any cleaner by the time they'd stopped their improvised cleansing ritual, but there was a deep-seated satisfaction to be earned from tumbling like kids in the grass. The four lay side by side, wondering if they had gone mad but not really caring.

'Anyone up for a hot cross bun?' Peeta asked.

"Yes" was the unanimous answer.

Holy Saturday

The end of the Lenten Fast brought great joy to the Everdeen sisters. Katniss was in the bakery not long after it opened its doors to the public, hidden away in the kitchen and devouring all the cheese buns she could set her hands on.

'Will I be wheeling you out of the bakery?' Peeta asked her mildly.

Katniss scowled at him, the ferocity severely diminished by the cute – Peeta thought – way her cheeks puffed out, like a chipmunk storing enough food for a quick getaway. The realisation that he loved her always took him by surprise, even though it struck him daily. Sometimes he had the sense to stifle the admission, but sometimes he would let it slip and watch her freeze in cornered anxiety.

Today he had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

'She's going to eat us out of house and home,' Bran said proudly as he passed, ruffling her hair like she was just another little brother. She turned her scowl on him next, and was greeted with blithe unconcern. 'Just don't let Mother Dearest catch you. She'll do more than mess your hair.'

'I'm paying.'

'You're not paying,' Peeta said absently, already accepting defeat. Between his brothers, his mother and the girl standing before him, he'd learnt to pick his battles very carefully.

…

'Peeta! Peeta's here, Daddy!'

'Fantastic observational skills there, son,' Haymitch said mildly. 'That'll serve you well in the lawyer business you'll have no choice but to enter.'

Jett Abernathy was deaf to his good-natured snarkiness, occupied as he was with running at Peeta and hugging his legs.

'Hey there, buddy,' Peeta greeted, petting his hair. 'How are you?'

'All right!' The boy seemed set on climbing Peeta's frame.

'Bit too old to be picked up now,' commented Haymitch.

'Nah!' Peeta replied, throwing the cheering boy up in the air and catching him. 'He's only too old when I can't pick him up anymore.'

'Do you think that excuse is viable? Look at the size of you. Forget a growing human, you could lift a freaking cow if you wanted.'

'Er, thanks, I think.'

'Would you tell me another story, Peeta?' Jett asked, leaning into his shoulder.

'Hmm, here's one. It's a pretty good one too. It's about a man so selfless and special that he could come back to life.'

'How?!'

'As exciting as this story will no doubt be, I'm sensing this isn't a social visit. What brings you here?'

'I'm here to make a purchase,' Peeta announced with a broad grin.

Easter Sunday

'Where are we going?' Katniss asked, skipping every couple of steps to keep up with his purposeful strides.

'The Town Square,' Peeta admitted freely.

'Why?'

'Because I'm going to reveal the surprise seconds before we get there.'

'A surprise, is it? I've got one for you too.'

'Oh yeah?' They stopped in the entrance to the square, hands clasped, eyes soft. 'What?'

Katniss smiled brilliantly. 'The–'

'Peeta! Peeta!' Peeta sighed as he was once again crowded by frolicking children. As much as he adored the kids who haunted his bakery, they had an appalling sense of timing. The force of them – there were seven or eight at least – sent him tumbling with a rather unmanly squeak.

'What is going on here?' Katniss asked, looking exasperatedly from where Peeta was getting trampled by kids half his size to the square itself, where many more children stood with parents and older siblings. All were looking in her direction.

'Surprise!' Peeta choked through the tangle of limbs. 'All right, that's enough, you little monsters.'

'What's surprising?'

His only answer was to beam brilliantly and pull her to the centre of the square, surrounded by a nimbus of children. 'All right, everyone who's playing into the middle.'

Katniss was ushered into the thick of the crowd, bumping into classmates (Seam and Merchant alike) and trying not to trip over toddlers, eventually coming to nestle between Prim and Madge.

'This is so exciting!' Prim shouted when she saw Katniss. 'Where's your basket? Do you want to share mine? I was going to partner with Rory,' (she flushed a delicate pink) 'but then Vick and Posy clung to him.'

As if summoned by name, the young Hawthorne worked his way toward them. 'Babe! I shook them off. Gale's on minder duty now…oh, hey Katniss.' His elated smile muted to one of timid hopefulness.

'Babe?' Katniss inquired with dry amusement.

The two young adolescents glowed positively luminescent.

'What does Peeta call you?' asked Rory, semi-defensively.

'Katniss,' she replied in a tone that implied that she would expect nothing else. 'You two go together, Prim. I'll go with Madge if she doesn't mind. Also, what are we actually talking about?'

'Peeta organised an "Easter Egg Hunt",' Madge enunciated carefully. 'The winner gets some sort of prize. Not exactly sure what it is except it involves a ridiculous amount of chocolate.'

'We're so winning this thing!' Prim bellowed. Rory, who she had securely linked arms with, looked terribly frightened.

'Ready?' Peeta was calling out. 'Three, two, one, hunt!'

The sight of the large throng diffusing from its packed nucleus must have been a fantastic sight from above. From Katniss's perspective, it was a frenetic scuffle with far too many toe-crushing feet and jabbing elbows. When she was out in the open again, she only had a second to catch her breath before Madge was tugging her in another direction.

'So, we're looking for little eggs?' Katniss asked.

'Yeah, see any?'

Katniss had no idea where to start. As far as she was concerned, flesh-toned eggs weren't too different a colour from the unremarkable brown stones that covered the square. Her gaze fell on the nearest shop, a neat little dressmaker's with conservative frocks in the window and baskets trailing with pastel blue flower hung on either side of door. Inside one of those baskets, there was also flash of fierce, sky blue that didn't suit the demure storefront. She reached up and removed a hard-boiled egg that fit snugly in her cupped hand, dipped in bright blue paint and painted with delicate silver silhouettes of birds and insects.

Madge gasped over her shoulders. 'It's amazing!'

'Is there one in the other basket?'

Madge felt inside and was rewarded with a green egg embellished with wild spring flowers. Katniss didn't know she was grinning until she noticed Madge looking at her in befuddled amazement. 'What are we waiting for? We have to hurry and beat Prim!'

For at least an hour, the Town Square was hubbub of movement, laughter and childish glee, and Peeta watched over the merriment like a bright, benevolent king. Katniss didn't know why her heart ached every time she looked at him and leapt every time he looked back.

True to her word, Prim emerged victorious and received a decadent selection of chocolate muffins for her efforts. The other despondent children were quickly cheered by the consolation prize – a fistful of chocolate buttons each. All the chocolate he would have eaten himself over Lent, he had told them. Katniss acceded the win graciously. Prim's glowing face was more of a prize than the overly rich confections, not that she wanted to criticise Peeta's baking. Those hot cross buns had made her week at the knees.

After the impromptu prize-giving ceremony, the crowd disbanded into amiable conversation – Seam and Merchant broaching the age-old barrier they'd reinforced time and time again over the course of their lives. Katniss regarded the singular scene in awe. Peeta had done this.

'Hey, Haymitch,' Katniss called out upon seeing him and his youngest son, 'he bought the eggs from you, right?'

'Yep, a hundred and fifty of them.'

'A hundred and fifty!'

'He painted them really cool!' Jett said, sidling up to her and brandishing his basket.

'Yeah, they'll be even cooler in a couple of weeks from now when they've started to rot and stink,' said Haymitch.

Katniss chuckled but quickly fell still, her eyes drawn like magnets to wherever Peeta was. He was sitting on the ground, leaning forward on his hands and laughing as little Posy Hawthorne pulled on his atypical blond curls with stubby fingers. 'I can't believe he did all of this.'

'Me neither. When I was courting my Silvia, a bunch of wild flowers did the trick. And she was very satisfied with them,' he added emphatically when Katniss shot him an amused look. 'Completely satisfied.'

When Posy finally departed, carried off by a scowling Gale, Katniss approached him. There was a wistful look about him that made Katniss smooth his hair flat against his scalp. 'Ignore Gale. He's still a bit touchy about…well, I'm not exactly sure. But it's Gale, so it's definitely something.'

Peeta nodded, and Katniss sat down on her haunches beside him. 'Thank you so much for all of this. You made everyone's day. Look at all those happy kids, and look at me caring!'

'I was just trying to make you feel a little better, you know, about the, uh…'

'Forest,' Katniss prompted.

'Yeah, but I'm so stupid. How can I replace your woods with some bread buns and a public search for hard-boiled geese eggs? I mean, it seemed like such a good idea at the–'

Katniss touched her fingers lightly to his mouth and he stopped accordingly.

'Peeta, you don't need to replace the forest. Come on, follow me.'

Minutes later they were trampling through the undergrowth that lined the new electric fence: Katniss quick and light, Peeta loud and lumbering.

'I don't understand,' he said.

'I was coming to visit the forest again. Just to look,' she emphasised, anticipating his concerned protests, 'not to try something stupid like forcing a way in. Anyway, I walked further than I did before and I found another entrance. Only this time it wasn't a gap beneath the fence, but a neatly cut out section, hidden by bushes. I think it was done on purpose. I think one of the Peacekeepers left it for us.'

'But why?'

'I don't know. Maybe they watched the show too and became fans. Wouldn't be any stranger than anything else that's happened to us, right?'

Peeta supposed not. Katniss found the right bush, a remarkable feat when faced with all this identical (in Peeta's opinion) foliage and guided him through the fence. Katniss's woods were even more vibrant than he'd remembered now that there were leaves on the trees and creatures born with each passing day. He'd once called it a shrine to the living, but he hadn't realised that he'd only seen it half-dead.

'What were those Easter stories all about again? New life, new hope?'

'Something like that.' Katniss slipped her hand in his, and he followed where she led. 'I'm not like you. I'm awful at giving gifts. I never seem to know what even the people I care about most want or need. I don't know how to tell stories. I can't bake, draw or paint. So whenever you go to such lengths to show how you, er, feel about me, I know I don't match up.'

'Katniss, you know I don't want anything in return, just your happiness. That's the whole idea, no other motives required. And as for not matching up, come on, you flew across Panem and into a psychopathic Capitol elitist's territory to find me. People communicate their feelings in different ways.'

They stopped in an idyllic grove where the opening treeline embraced the sunlight to create a lazy glow of green about the place. The generous lake glistened with it, and the modest cabin promised concealment and comfort.

'Is this your father's place?'

She nodded. 'You were here once, in one of my dreams. I wasn't sure if I wanted you to be here then, but now… Whenever you want to be here, just come. I can picture you sitting by the lake, painting, enjoying the sun. Just make sure you're not under my feet while I'm trying to hunt. Your tread shakes the earth.'

It wasn't often that Peeta was struck silent, but when he was, his eyes could speak as articulately as his words. He gazed at her for a while, eyes big and blue, drinking her in, then hugged her tightly. 'And you say you're the one who doesn't match up. Yeah, I gave you a fun day, but you're giving me your forest, your history, a fundamental part of yourself.'

She hid her smile in his shoulder as she hugged him back. 'Should we just call it even? No more matching up.'

Peeta withdrew. 'No more matching up.' And his expressive eyes agreed.

Hand in hand, they toured the edge of the lake, Katniss educating him on the flora and the fauna that made their homes there. The whole while, Peeta kept his intense gaze on her, at first in dutiful studiousness but later succumbing to wondrous desire. Katniss trailed off, smirking amusedly.

'I can't believe I'm here with you. I know it's been almost five months now, but it still feels like I'm dreaming. Katniss, I know I promised not to say this too much, but I love you.'

He winced, waiting for the easiness between them to turn stale or cold or instable as it usually did when he uttered those three damning words. Her smile had disappeared, and she was gnawing at her bottom lip, in tribute to the ingenuous child her circumstances hadn't allowed her to be. It took a couple of false starts and a lot of adorable – Peeta thought – blushing for Katniss to say, 'I love you too.'

Peeta was so taken aback that he stumbled, lost his footing on the lakeside plant life and fell into the water. Katniss laughed, hard, her embarrassment outmatched – even if they'd agreed upon no more matching up. Her affable, blond boyfriend joined in until his attempts to peaceably tread water became increasingly frantic.

'I've just realised that I am not the strongest swimmer,' he said and rapidly began to sink.

'Peeta!' Katniss dove in after him.

…

The sun was setting by the time they collapsed into the cabin, soaked and breathless with laughter. 'My hero!' Peeta announced. 'Again.'

'As long as you keep getting yourself into trouble, I guess I am,' Katniss harrumphed. The cabin was exactly as she had left it, right down to the pile of firewood she'd made sure to keep stocked over the winter months and the iron pokers leaned carefully against it. 'A fire, I think.'

'That would be much appreciated.'

The fire was soon roaring, and Peeta shrugged out of his clinging, sodden T-shirt for his comfort and Katniss's viewing pleasure. She observed admiringly as he sauntered around the cabin, trying to decipher the quick, creative thoughts that shot through his mind when he examined the mementos of her father she'd stashed here. An old hunting jacket, a collection of intriguingly shaped stones, a couple of bows he'd crafted for himself.

'What's this on the table?'

Katniss came to stand beside him, her brow furrowing. Someone had scorched a design into the wood: a mockingjay enclosed inside a circle that looked remarkably like the golden ring she still wore.

'It wasn't there before.'

'The people who made the hidden entrance?'

Katniss shrugged. 'Maybe.'

'Should we be concerned?'

Her hackles were raised, her senses sharpened for danger, but something about Peeta's solid presence beside her settled her, balanced her. She slid her arms around his bare, impeccably sculpted torso and rested her head against his chest. 'Not yet.'

'Should we give it another twelve years?' Peeta asked, kissing her forehead as he returned the embrace.

'I have no idea. But if something does happen, don't worry, I'll be there to protect you.'

Peeta laughed fondly. 'I wouldn't doubt it, my lovely, frightening hero.'

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed.

I've got another Everlark fic sprouting legs at the moment. That's sounds terrifying, though it suits the nature of the storyline. It will definitely be a bit darker and edgier than this fluffy lovefest!