Music and the Beast
Summary: Caught up in a ruse to stay away from her past, top talent manager, Katniss Hawthorne wasn't one for music or romance. But maybe, there might just be someone to bring the music back into her life. Implied K/C, K/G, but ultimately K/P.
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Chapter Length: 7,884 words
Warnings: Swearing, OOC Cato and Badass Peeta
First off I'd like to say thanks to all those who reviewed last chapter and added this story to their alerts and favorites list. It really means a lot to me. A big thanks to my anonymous reviewers whom I couldn't thank personally, Mockingjay, This Needs a Happy Ending, Anonymous, Peetapeetapeeta, KinnaFatniss, Cupcake, Skies The Limit, Cannoli, and GIFtoJPG.
Congratulations also to those who answered the Reader Pop Quiz correctly in their reviews and got a chance to see an extended preview of this chapter, TheBlackMagicRose, underscore is back, and KillerTimes. Scroll down to see the rest of the chapter you haven't already read.
To those concerned that this is the last chapter, don't fret. I've decided to write at a pace I'm comfortable with and enough chapters to provide for sufficient character development. And for those who were expecting Johanna, Finnick, and Madge in this chapter, I'm sorry, but I couldn't fit them in, and it wasn't the right time. Rest assured that I'll try to get them into the story soon though, because I've already planned out what to do with them.
For all you Peeta, Haymitch and Cato lovers, however, this chapter's for you.
Enjoy the read!
Chapter 3: Familia
The rain continued to pour as the two got to work going through songs, classifying them and filtering them for content. Peeta was comfortable to work with, Katniss decided, and she found herself letting more of her guard down as the work progressed.
It was difficult seeing the title and lyrics of each song and then suddenly recalling the inspiration behind them. She had thought about her dad more in these few hours than in all the days she had gone to his grave to commemorate his death. She hated to admit it, but she was lying to herself all those years, telling herself that she allowed herself to feel for at least one day a year when in reality she would make her way there with Prim still fighting back the memories that flooded her at the mere sight of his grave. She didn't honor him in the way he deserved.
"Hey, look at this." Peeta said from behind her, snapping her out of her daze. He was now rummaging through CDs, tapes, records and their packaging, nitpicking through album art, credits and acknowledgements. He held up an album cover and she walked over to him to take a closer look before stopping when she realized what he held in his hand. "This you?" he asked.
Katniss nodded. In his hand was the cover of one of her father's earlier albums, Panem et Familia, an album dedicated to their family which made account of the hardships of living with a dream as elusive as making it in the music industry with the support of his family. She scanned the picture wistfully. There she was at seven, each of her hands clasped firmly on her father's and her mother's clothes, a blissful smile on her face. Her mother smiled with the awareness that her blank gaze couldn't afford her these days, her belly plump with the growing baby inside her. Prim. At first her eyes refused to meet those of her father's in the picture, but when they did, they were met with the warmest and truest of smiles.
'He looked so happy'. She thought and instead of shedding tears as she had thought she would, she found herself smiling back, a sudden warmth enveloping her inside.
"You looked pretty cute back then." He laughed as he set the cover aside and resumed his rummaging. "Wonder what happened."
"I resent that." Katniss replied, sticking her tongue out at him, staying by his side as she watched him flip through an album of her father's single covers.
"Oh please, you resent everything." Peeta returned, his eyes rolling. Far from being antagonizing, there was playful laughter in his voice and Katniss returned his smile with a small smile of her own. She liked the sight of his smile, she decided, and the stark contrast between his earlier hateful looks at her and his now carefree smile was what tipped the scales. He did look quite young compared to most that held the same job in the company and she began to wonder what secrets and prowess he held beneath the façade of youth.
"What are you, like twelve?" She asked, trying to dig for the answer to her internal questions. To her defense, he sure was acting like he was.
"Twenty-seven actually." He seemed to smile to himself proudly. "Though most people say I could pass for a high school senior." He winked at her with a flirty look on his face.
Katniss let out a snicker at his smug remark. "I'm sorry, but I don't do pedophilia."
"Ouch." Peeta pretended to take an arrow to his heart, bending back at its fake impact as it hit the bull's-eye. "Guess I had that coming. But what are you? Like forty?" He nudged her playfully. "Lighten up a little."
She nudged him back before answering. "Oh believe me, this is me lightening up." She was speaking truthfully. She wouldn't be caught dead smiling or laughing so lightheartedly in front of her superiors, or her clients for that matter. It was rare to even find herself this relaxed with Prim, always wary of the landmines that were present when it came to their sibling relationship. "If you knew about the kind of people I've had to deal with." She shook her head, repressing a shudder, but still managing to let it escape her frame.
Peeta raised his brow and shot her a look that said 'I don't even want to know' before turning back to the compilation of covers.
"Hey." They both let out at the same time, reaching out for a particular cover that caught their eye. For the second time in a few hours, their hands touched and they both withdrew at the contact. Peeta's hand flew to the back of his head, suddenly feeling an urge to scratch a particular itch that wasn't there before. Katniss wrung her fingers around each other, feeling her hands. They were cold and clammy. Suddenly it felt too cold in the room.
She drew her attention back to the cover that had caught her eye and looked twice to make sure Peeta's hand was nowhere near hers as she reached for it.
"This was my favorite." She explained her earlier enthusiasm carefully as she fingered the edges of the laminated paper. On it was a black and white picture of a boy and a well, not necessarily a picture that most would consider cheerful and inspiring. In fact, it was more shocking than anything else. The boy was severely malnourished, his large, oversized and tattered clothes a testimony of the neglect, and the land around him arid and barren. He was bent over the well, as if searching its depth for something. She had remembered her father mentioning that it was taken in Africa, in a village where dying of hunger and lack of water was a common thing, and she remembered not believing him at her age, having been well-cared for with not a single want in her childhood. Only later in life did she realize the gravity of what was portrayed in this cover.
"Believe it or not, this was the first CD I ever bought with my own money." Peeta added as she passed the single to him. "I remember studying about poverty in school when I was twelve, and then hearing later on that this famous band was raising money for charity to end world hunger." Thinking about it now, he made the purchase on a whim more than anything. "The next thing I knew, I was lining up with this CD in hand with seven months worth of my savings without a second thought." He paused. "I didn't even care about music then, much less about your father."
Katniss had new-found respect for the man beside her as his eyes clouded over in nostalgia.
"Little did I know Joseph Everdeen's music would change my life forever." He laughed a little to cover up the fact that he was getting quite emotional, his eyes actually watering a little. "When I heard the song it was just so real, you know?" He paused before running a hand through his hair. He must've sounded like such a wimp, but it was true. There were no words for how he felt when he actually listened to the CD for the first time. "It was like, no matter how bad this shitty world is-"
"There's always hope." Katniss smiled warmly as she completed his sentence, turning the picture in his hand over to reveal behind it a picture of her father's band with the child, wide grins on their faces and large glasses of the clearest and coldest-looking water she had ever seen in each of their hands.
"Yeah." Peeta looked at her and smiled widely, glad to see that she didn't think he was weird for having such an emotional connection to a CD of all things. "And that's when I decided I'd dedicate my life to either music, or a long journey to Africa."
Katniss laughed. "Africa would have been much more scenic."
"Yeah, but my mom would kill me." He defended, actually quite disappointed in the turn of events himself. "So I had to settle for music school and a graduate diploma in composition." He pouted cutely as he turned to her.
"Impressive." Katniss had to admit, he sounded like he knew his stuff. "Well I guess we know the first song we'll be including in the remake album then."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Peeta smiled at the girl beside him as she began humming to herself, obviously pleased that they were making headway on the project.
He was starting to see her in a different light. Maybe there was more of her father in her than he had originally thought, not that he had known the man personally. He examined her more closely as she re-arranged the pile of covers that he had inadvertently messed up while he was rummaging. He couldn't say much for how she was dressed, her baggy shirt did nothing for her small stature and he wondered if it was even hers. Choosing to ignore her obvious lack of fashion sense, he scanned her features. Her long waist-length hair was done in a simple braid, the brown locks almost sparkling in the dim light of the room. 'How was that even possible?' , he thought as he followed the loose strands of hair that framed her face.
Her face. He noted that her face was neither too round or too angular. The gentle curves of her jaw matched that of her father's and the freckles that lined her uncovered skin seemed perfectly placed. A small dimple appeared at the tiniest smile that she bore and he silently wished she would smile more. Following his gaze, his eyes landed on the thick brown lashes that framed her large doe eyes, her irises a cold steel grey that seemed to be missing something. 'Fire' he decided. They were missing fire. Now he wondered where that fire had gone. Before he had any more room to let his thoughts wander, Katniss snapped him out of his reverie.
"Thanks for sharing that with me by the way." She gave him a truly grateful smile as she spoke. "It was really touching."
Peeta felt heat creep up his cheeks and he realized he was blushing. Rather than turn away from embarrassment however, he found himself trapped in her eyes. There was a small flicker of light in them, miniscule, but it was there. The fire hadn't been totally lost after all.
They stood there for awhile, just staring at each other before a loud snore from Haymitch broke them out of the spell.
"You'd think he'd have the decency to come to work sober." She shook her head in dismay, seemingly unfazed by the awkward moment they had shared before stepping over Haymitch's sleeping form and returning to sorting out songs and lyrics. "I have no idea what dad saw in him."
"Isn't he your uncle or something?" Peeta crouched over beside the man, prodding him with a finger, slightly amused at his resistance to being awoken. "I mean, what with the eyes and hair and all"
"Not really." Katniss scoffed at Peeta's suggestion. "He's my godfather, but barely even that."
"I'm sure he wasn't always so – troubled." Peeta turned to the poor man whose drool had now formed a small puddle where his cheek met the cold floor. After having misjudged Katniss a first time, he was determined not to jump into conclusions with anybody, not even the drunk that lay in front of him, unconscious.
"Doesn't matter. He still doesn't like me all that much." Katniss scrunched her nose up at the thought. "Although I'm pretty sure there was a time he tolerated my presence. I was probably too young to remember."
"You must mean something to him though, or at least your father did." Peeta retorted. Inside he came to regret that he was so quick to defend this man whereas he hadn't spared a second thought when it came to judging Katniss. He would make it a point to make it up to her in the long run. "I mean, he came back to work on this album. That's saying something right?"
"Peeta" She began, "I've said this before, but not everybody here came to work on the project because they wanted to." Katniss didn't look at him as she said this. She was a prime example of what it was like to be forced to do something and not be able to fight back. She wasn't sure if Haymitch was forced into this like she was, but there was always the possibility.
"But how could you not want to?" Peeta just could not fathom how working on this project could be a bad thing. "You're his daughter, for Christ's sake."
Katniss didn't answer and instead pursed her lips into a thin line as she stopped humming, her earlier pleasant mood ruined at the turn of the conversation.
Peeta stood up, his arms hanging dejectedly from his frame as his hands dug into his pockets. "What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Katniss huffed, slamming the pile of papers she had in her hands on the table and turning her back to him as she rubbed her face furiously, trying to get the thoughts and memories out of her head as they began to resurface, overwhelming her. She had no intention of breaking down for a second time in front of this man she barely even knew. Had he expected her to spill all her deepest and darkest secrets just because he babied her for a few minutes in one of her weakest moments? She wouldn't allow it. No matter how much she let her guard down around him, there were things that were just not meant to be shared. He already knew one of her prime weaknesses and she wasn't willing to share anymore.
"Fine." He bit back, equally frustrated. Just when he thought he could have some semblance of a civil relationship with this stubborn girl she went ahead and shut him out again. Apparently the little piece of his personal endeavors he shared with her didn't mean shit. The sight of the sleeping man in front of him suddenly made him irritated beyond belief and he suddenly regretted even coming to his defense. He snuck a glance at Katniss to see that she was turning to exit the room. He was about to run after her until the door opened abruptly.
"Oh Katniss! You're safe!" A tall, strawberry-blonde man ran up to her and captured her in his embrace, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around dramatically, seemingly unaware of the instruments that surrounded him, not to mention the drunk laying on the ground that he was so precariously about to step on.
Katniss let out a strangled breath as she struggled to push him off her, her feet dangling and searching for safe ground. "Cato, it's fine. I'm okay. Put me down please." She let out, desperately uncomfortable at the huge scene he was making.
He did as he was told, settling her down so her feet now stood somewhat unsteadily on the ground beneath her. Katniss fought to gather her bearings as the world still spun madly around her. The man in front of her was giddy with relief and excitement, his two heavy hands on her shoulders, grasping her so tightly just to make sure she was real, only before finally pulling her in for a demanding kiss.
It was at this point that Peeta cleared his throat and alerted the couple to his presence. He shifted uncomfortably as he watched as the bulk of a man fondling Katniss stuck a finger up at him, shushing him as he tried to sneak in a few more seconds of kissing. Peeta cleared his throat again, louder this time.
Cato released the still dizzy girl from his clutches and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The tickling sensation it brought her jolted her out of her dizziness enough to finally scold the spontaneous man.
"Cato, what the hell are you doing here?" She asked finally, eyes wide, awaiting an explanation.
"I was so worried. After yesterday and dad just suddenly had to bring all the shit about your father up, he wouldn't let me see you! I was so mad, I couldn't even sleep, Katniss! And you know how my skin gets when I don't get my beauty sleep." His words blended together as he spat them out furiously fast making it difficult for her to understand him. "But you're here, and you're safe and dad's still at home, so I snuck out to see you. I miss you so much." He enveloped her in yet another hearty embrace.
Peeta examined the couple before him, squinting his eyes and tilting his head, seeing if a change in perspective would make the scene look any less wrong. It didn't.
For one, the man who now held Katniss in what looked to be a death grip was at least two heads taller than she, towering over her and making her look like a ragdoll in comparison to his large form. He looked much too daft to share any common interests with the girl, but he wasn't one to judge, he had after all only met her today but he had a feeling his hunch was right. Furthermore, Katniss looked as if she would rather be in any place but his arms at the moment and her struggle to push him away was evidence enough of that. But for some reason, it still bothered him.
Finally able to pry herself from Cato's grip a second time, Katniss sat him down on the nearest chair to calm him before interrogating him incessantly. "Cato, focus."
Cato stared intently at her, his smile disappearing as he put on a more serious face in response to the familiar tone as if he had been specifically trained to respond to Katniss' voice. Right now, her tone screamed 'No bullshit.'
"You said that Snow was still at home." Katniss asked, more of confirmation than a statement. Cato nodded. "Was he with anybody?
"Just Gale." Cato spat out, mock-gagging like he had something disgusting in his mouth, his dislike for the producer very much apparent. "They were going on about publicity or something." Cato couldn't be bothered to listen any further, the topic of Katniss' supposed husband leaving a bad taste in his mouth.
Katniss breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Snow was nowhere near the studio. She glanced at the lone CD at the table, so far the only song they had managed to pick out for the album, and she knew they were running late on their assignment. She did not want to catch Snow in a bad mood, as he probably would be in if he was dealing with Gale at this moment, and have him mad at her for not even being able to complete a single task. She shook the thought out of her head and resumed her interrogation.
"And what exactly are you doing here? Don't you know Snow would kill us both if he caught us together? What the hell were you thinking?" Katniss let out exasperated at the man's childish actions.
Watching Katniss act like this around a different person was like seeing a plush toy suddenly getting up, coming to life and drop-kicking a child in a face. Suddenly, Peeta understood where she had gotten the nickname, 'The Beast'.
"Oh Katniss, I told you." He explained simply, as if it was the answer to all the greatest questions in the world, "I missed you." He wore a disgustingly sweet puppy-dog smile on his face. "And I was worried my dad would have you exiled or something. I didn't think you'd actually say yes to the project, and when I thought you'd declined, I figured my father'd have you deported like that." Cato tried to snap, solidifying his point, but failed miserably. He furrowed his brows at his two fingers and tried again, and again, to no avail. Cato had the attention span of a jar of a pickles.
Katniss shook her head, yet again, but couldn't help but laugh at his certain disregard for common sense. "You could have called me, you know?" There was a certain familiarity in the words that she exchanged with Cato that bothered Peeta. How close were they exactly?
"I'm sorry." Cato looked down at his hands as he played with his fingers like a child.
"Well I'm here, and I'm safe. Really busy, but I'm safe." Katniss assured him before pulling him up from his seat and taking his hands in hers. "So you better leave before one of your dad's cronies rats on us."
Cato bit his lip as he smiled, happy his father hadn't done anything too drastic. "I can't wait for the new album." He raved. "With my voice and your – " Cato thought for a minute, not really knowing what Katniss would be contributing to his next hit. Katniss nodded slowly for him to continue. "–skills?" Cato shrugged and continued, "We'll be unstoppable!"
Katniss laughed it off. "Well, we could be. If you let me work." She had to phrase her words correctly, lest she be stuck with him the entire day. "But I can't if you're here distracting me. I still have more songs to pick out and I have to make sure they're within your vocal range and that they mesh well with-"
"Just pick anything." Cato replied dismissively. "You know I can sing anything. I'm sure I can work it out. Heck, with me singing, there's no doubt it'll be better than the original!"
Peeta let out a loud snort at the blonde buffoon's words. This guy obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Better than the original? Heck, they'd be lucky to even match up to the original, let alone best it. And even if they did, it wouldn't be because of this idiot's voice, it'd be because of the musical arrangement, composition and production. Peeta nodded to himself proudly amidst his internal dialogue.
Cato glared at him from behind Katniss, who had now turned to the source of the condescending noise.
"Who's the pig?" Cato asked, crossing his arms in a fit and raising his brow, sizing up the other conscious man in the room. "Another one of your charity cases?"
It was Peeta's turn to raise a brow at him. "I happen to be-"
"Cato, this is Peeta." Katniss interjected, trying to diffuse the tension. "He's going to be arranging the songs we pick to suit you. He was handpicked by your father." She stressed.
Cato turned to her, and then to Peeta, and then back at her. He knew what she meant when she said that he was handpicked by his father. It meant that he was untouchable, so to speak. Any actions against him would be taken as a personal jab at his father. He gritted his teeth and kicked his foot at the air before begrudgingly walking over to the shorter man, offering his hand.
"Nice to meet you." Cato offered, scratching the back of his head with his other hand, obviously not fond of having to be courteous for the first time in a long while.
Peeta took his hand and shook it reluctantly. "You too. Thanks for having me."
Cato let go of his hand immediately and turned back to Katniss. "Well, I guess I should go now." He was a little hurt that Katniss was so quick to push him away after he had just braved a storm for her, but he really didn't mind all too much as long as she was safe. He took her in for one last long embrace before addressing Peeta. "And you." He pointed. "Try anything funny and-" He punched a fist into his open palm for emphasis. "I got my eye on you."
Peeta had to repress his laughter as he watched Cato walk out the door, and as soon as he was in the clear, he let out a loud bellowing laugh at how ridiculous it all was. And they called him immature.
Katniss rolled her eyes and got back to work rubbing the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming on.
Once Peeta had recovered from his laughter he plopped down onto the listeners' couch and laid an arm on his stomach, his abdominal muscles hurting from the strain of laughter. "So is he your boyfriend?" he asked, half serious and half still trying to contain giggles from the funny image Cato painted in his head.
"It's complicated." Katniss answered, trying to avoid the question.
"Figures. He seemed more like a pet than boyfriend material." He stretched his arm out over the cushion of the sofa and crossed his legs before continuing. "And the guy from earlier? Gale was it? Your brother? Lover? Second-cousin-twice-removed?" He didn't even know why he was asking. It was probably the disbelief at the number of men involved in her life.
"It's complicated." She answered yet again, starting to get annoyed at Peeta's constant badgering. "But he's my best friend."
"Honestly, I don't see the appeal." Peeta blew a stray strand of hair that had been impeding his vision from off his face. "But hey, to each his own."
"Are we done with the questions now?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips, obviously tired of the topic of conversation. "Because I don't know about you, but it looks to me like we still have a truckload of work to do and Haymitch sure as hell isn't helping."
Peeta sat up and clasped his hands together. "Yes Ma'am." She used a different tone with him now, he observed. Cato's sudden appearance had her guarded and unreadable yet again, four walls up with no hopes of penetrating them any time soon. He conceded. It was no use trying to befriend her with her still so strung up, and the least he could do was do his job. "Maybe we should build everything around what we already have." He suggested. "We could do a greatest hits compilation, but also include some of his more groundbreaking and inspiring work. You know, the gritty stuff."
Katniss nodded, face serious as she started pulling out the relevant albums that she had sorted out. "Now that's something I can work with."
It was a start.
By ten, they were fixing up the final touches to the song list they had agreed upon. They had decided to prop Haymitch up on the couch to make him look more presentable and less drunk, but he still slumped over the head of the sofa, mouth open, letting out less than flattering gargles of breath in between routine normal-sounding snores.
They were in the middle of a heated argument, trying to decide how to order the songs for production when Snow came through the door, arms open, Gale trailing behind him like a lost puppy.
Peeta walked over to Haymitch in a panic, kicking him discreetly in an effort to wake him.
"Ah, looks like you two are getting along just fine and dandy without us." He took his place beside Katniss, securing his arm around her shoulder. "Mister Hawthorne was under the impression that you two would bludgeon each other to death before we got back. Glad to see you're both still alive and kicking." He laughed. "I half thought we'd be coming back to three limp corpses, two dead and one drunk."
Peeta and Katniss just exchanged awkward glances before forcing out polite laughter at the man's morbid humor. There was something seriously wrong with this man.
"And Haymitch?" He asked, eyeing the limp man sprawled over the couch. With a particularly solid kick delivered by Peeta, Haymitch jolted from his slumber, standing up, eyes suddenly alert as he did a double take surveying the room. A slight jab of pain suddenly made him aware of the spot where Peeta had kicked him, and he began to rub it furiously. That kid had one heck of a boot.
"We just got done with the song list actually." Peeta explained, discreetly slipping a copy of the progress into Haymitch's hand while Katniss distracted Snow with a copy of her own.
Haymitch squinted at the piece of paper in front of him, his eyes still adjusting to the lights in the room. When his eyes finally registered the list in front of him, he let out a small laugh and a smirk. "Well I'll be damned." He gave Peeta a congratulatory slap on the back. "Kid's got some taste."
Snow on the other hand wore a displeased frown as he scrutinized the list and details. Gale wore a worried look on his face, knowing the man was not entirely pleased. He walked over between Katniss and Snow to sneak a look in for himself.
"We thought we'd include some of the band's best-selling songs, you know, the ones that the public were familiar with." Katniss began to explain, unsure of the reaction she'd receive. "But then we thought that would be too cliché."
"So we mixed in some of their earlier work, for more exposure." Peeta continued. It was genius actually, and of all the things that had happened today, he was happy that Katniss and he agreed, at least in this respect. "We thought it would give the album a whole new perspective. Deepen the roots and broaden its scope."
Haymitch just snorted at his lengthy explanation. "Fuckin' hipsters." But he was happy with their song choice. These were the songs that had started it all, the songs that had drawn Joseph and he together, and the songs that mattered.
"Oh this won't do at all." Snow clicked his tongue disapprovingly. Three pairs of eyes shot incredulous looks at him as he furrowed his brow at the list he held in his hands.
"Excuse me?" Katniss asked, not sure if he actually heard the words escape his mouth correctly.
"What do you mean?" Peeta walked over to the CEO, taking the paper he held in his own hand. Had they given him the wrong list? He scanned the songs, their lyrics and production details. No, this was the list. It was perfect.
"I told you to pick songs that suited Cato." He stated simply, reclaiming the paper and holding it up to their faces.
"But these songs are perfect for his voice." Katniss reasoned. "They're all within his range, and with a little autotune-"
"But they're all too depressing and controversial." He pronounced the words in disgust. "They don't suit his image at all." He took a seat, beckoning for Gale to join him. "And besides, a lot of these songs are from their charity albums."
"And so?" Peeta frowned.
"It means-" Snow let out slowly, as if he were talking to a toddler. "-we'd have to give part of the proceeds to charity." Snow gritted his teeth, obviously turned off by the idea. "And I have no intentions of doing that." He eyed Gale expectantly. "I'm sure Mister Hawthorne agrees with me."
Gale just furrowed his brow in thought.
Haymitch just laughed as he tossed his paper aside, not really knowing what to make of what just happened. "Well, the big man's spoken." He said sarcastically as he threw his hands up in the air in mock jubilation. "Let's just remake our last album." He turned to Katniss, a crazed look on his face. "You know the one. The album we wrote in our drunken stupor, right before you followed suit." He laughed maniacally. "Trippy shit, those songs."
Katniss had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from blowing up right then and there. She breathed in heavily. 'Why did he even have them pick songs out then if he was just going to shoot them down without a second thought?' She looked at Gale, waiting for him to come to their aid, but he never did.
"Unbelievable." Peeta let out, obviously exasperated. "So what? We have to work our way around that talentless baboon's image and your aversion for humanity?"
Katniss almost gasped at Peeta's choice of words. She knew he was blunt, but his words were a personal death wish.
"Careful, Mister Mellark." Snow let out through gritted teeth, obviously displeased and borderline seething. "That talentless baboon just happens to be my son."
Before Peeta could retort and seal his death wish, Katniss interrupted. "So what do you expect us to do?" Her breathing was heavy and her head was spinning. It was taking her all in her power to calm herself down.
"Start over of course." Snow answered simply. "Pick some happy songs about your father's escapades and touring days. The ones that would make young people want to get up and dance. Something we can make into a large-scale music video." He smiled at the prospect.
"So you're asking us to sacrifice what the entire band stood for," Katniss breathed in measures, "for songs people can dance to?"
Haymitch cradled his chin in his hands, his face suddenly serious as she observed the girl in front of him.
This was what Katniss had been dreading. She was hoping to finish this project with the legacy her father left strengthened and treated the way he deserved, or intact at the very least. What Snow was asking her to do was the complete opposite of what she had hoped. She was a bad daughter as it was, and although she could pay no price to take back what she had done in the past, she was hoping that this album's success would exonerate her. It wouldn't. Not like this.
"Katniss?" She had stood there for longer than she had thought, blank stares and deep breaths. Peeta was starting to get worried.
"I need time to think." She said, not giving the men time to react before she flew out the door.
"Katniss, wait!" Gale turned to chase her before he was held back by the surprisingly firm hands of Snow.
"Leave it." Snow commanded him, annoyed at the turn of events. Apparently, his earlier threat wasn't ingrained deep enough in the dim girl's head. "She knows what'll happen if she doesn't come back."
Peeta turned to him, hearing what he had just said. "What happens if she doesn't?" He asked, his voice threatening. "Are you blackmailing her?" He found it too hard to believe.
Snow hesitated to answer, confirming his suspicions. "She needed a little convincing."
"And you're not doing anything about it." He turned to Gale, his tone accusing. "You're supposed to be her best friend and you're just gonna let him walk all over her like that."
"Shut it Mellark, you don't know a thing." Gale let out, his jaw clenching as he spoke. Haymitch remained unmoved.
"You should be happy I'm still keeping you Mister Mellark." Snow added, "What with that obvious lack of tact you so keenly seem to want to advertise."
"Well what makes you think I want to be kept?" He asked, challenging. By now he was obviously angry that he was being manipulated. "You're just using us."
"Not everybody's as smart and level-headed as you are, Mister Mellark." Snow said, his voice calm despite the obvious fury in his eyes. "Don't make a stupid mistake over childhood ideals that hold no merit in the real world."
Peeta scoffed. "Level-headed my ass." He grabbed his jacket and turned to follow Katniss. "I'm out of here."
He was halfway out the door when Snow called out. "You'll be back, Mr. Mellark." His voice lost its serenity and bore a threatening air.
As he left the studio, he gave the CEO the finger. It was a childish gesture, but it pretty much summed up his thoughts on the matter.
Snow spat profanities into the air and Gale didn't know what to do. Haymitch, on the other hand started laughing like a mad man.
"Kid's got guts." He stated simply in between bemused laughter before finally turning to the seething old man in front of him. "Sorry big man, but I'm with blondie." He gave him a playful pat on the back, digging in his pocket for a silver flask of who-knew-what. "No way in hell am I hoppin' on a bandwagon doomed to fail."
"Mister Abernathy." Snow began, the veins on his neck jutting out prominently in his anger.
"Save it, big man." Haymitch waved a hand dismissively. "You ain't got nothin' on me." He gave him a knowing smirk. "In fact. I got more on you than you'll ever know." He taunted the man, swinging his flask in front of the man's face. "Those kids know their shit. And they've called yours."
He gave the man's beard a quick tug before sauntering out of the room, leaving him to his own devices.
"Mister Hawthorne, call the press." Snow stated simply, things obviously not going as he had planned.
"You're not going to-" Gale's face was filled with worry. "She'll be back. She just needs time to think."
"Her time was up ages ago, Mister Hawthorne." Snow told him, his patience running thin. "She needs to know that I am perfectly capable of holding my end of the bargain."
As Haymitch walked out of the studio, being greeted by gusts of wind and heavy rain, he looked up at the sky and smiled. "Not today, my friend. But soon."
Katniss ran out of the room like it was on fire, and it was a known fact that she despised fire. She found herself at the lobby, looking desperately for a place think. It was too bright, and everything seemed to overwhelm her at this moment. She turned to the man behind the counter.
"Keys." She demanded, her hand out expectantly.
The man looked at her, not knowing what she was talking about. If she were her old self, she'd have had this man fired.
"MY KEYS." She demanded yet again, her voice loud and panicked. She turned around to make sure nobody had run out after her. The hallways were empty. "Some guy left them here two days ago, I need them back."
The man searched frantically for her keys, frightened at the sharp tone she used. It took him what seemed to be ages before finally finding them in a drawer and handing them to her without hesitation.
"Thank you." She hissed before turning around to make an exit, ignoring the wind and rain that greeted her out in the open.
She crossed her arms as the cold hit her small frame and she fuddled with her keys before finally getting her car open and letting herself in. She shut the door with a slam and locked herself in before curling herself up into a little ball, closing her eyes tightly and crossing her arms over her head, shutting the world out. It was hard to distinguish where the rain that soaked her hair ended and where the tears that were streaming down her eyes began.
Peeta ran out after Katniss, but by the time he had reached the lobby, she was nowhere to be found. He turned to look at the attendant behind the counter who was now wide eyed and flustered as he began to approach him.
"She ran out!" The poor man held out both his hands and turned away from the man, squinting his eyes and bracing himself for a possible verbal attack not unlike the one he had received earlier. "Please don't yell at me!"
Peeta just smiled and uttered a word of thanks before running out of the studio into the parking lot. It was the second time today he'd be drenched by rainwater, but right now, it didn't seem to matter. He scanned the parking lot for any signs of Katniss, to no avail. He screamed out her name as he searched the cars that lined the lot, desperately trying to remember what her car looked like or where he had parked it.
By the time he had spotted the familiar curled up ball at the driver seat of a black BMW, he was soaking wet and cold beyond belief.
"Katniss!" He screamed, knocking furiously at her window. She was unmoving, and he wasn't even sure if she heard him. "Katniss, open the door, damnit!"
Katniss finally lifted her head, her eyes red from crying, and it broke Peeta's heart to see her like that. He had inadvertently seen this girl at her weakest moments twice in a single day and he silently wondered if he was doomed to see her like that every time they met.
"Katniss, let me in." He continued to bang on the window in desperation. Her grey eyes met his blue ones through the foggy window of the car and he felt a sudden surge of déjà vu. It crept up his spine slowly. Why did this seem so familiar? He had to shake it off to get the uncomfortable feeling off him. "Katniss, I'm freezing."
Katniss shook her head to clear her mind and process his words before finally unlocking her doors, letting Peeta in. He was dripping wet from head to toe and he shivered furiously from where he was seated. "You're soaking wet."
"Thanks for the acute observation. So are you." He quipped, wearing a smile on his face to comfort her. His teeth were blindingly white in the contrast of the dark. "This is what I get for not remembering where I parked your car." He forced out a small laugh. "Any plans on turning on the heater?"
Katniss stared at him for a moment before looking at the keys in her hands as if she had forgotten what they were for. "Oh yeah." She said lamely, her mind still blank.
She raised the keys to the ignition, her hand shaking tremendously as she did so, either from the cold or from stifling sobs. Either way, it was making it difficult for her to start the car.
Peeta wore a pained expression as he took her hand in his, stifling her tremors and guiding her keys to the ignition for her, turning her engine on and then turning up the heat. "There. Nice and warm." He said to her warmly, guiding her hand back to her side. He was about to let go until Katniss' grip kept his hand in hers.
"Snow?" She asked, worried that he'd come after her after what had happened.
"I quit." Peeta answered, unenthusiastically. "Didn't want to deal with his bullshit anymore" He explained further. "Didn't have to." He turned to her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "And you don't have to either, Katniss."
Katniss turned to him, her face now flooded with concern. "You have no idea what he's capable of, Peeta." Her voice was small and strained.
"You're right, I don't." He returned. "That's why you need to tell me these things, Katniss. All this time, I had no idea he was blackmailing you." Katniss eyes widened. How much did he know? "I don't know what happened, or why Snow has to go through such lengths, but what I do know is that this isn't what your father would have wanted."
Katniss withdrew her hand from his and curled her frame tighter against itself. "Don't talk as if you knew him." She spat out viciously. "You didn't know him."
"It doesn't take a genius to know when something's wrong, Katniss." He stared at her intently, willing his point to get through her, to let her know she wasn't doing anything wrong and that Snow was just innately evil.
"I need to go." Katniss said, her voice crumbling at the words. "And you need to leave." She started forcing Peeta out, pushing against his large form in a futile effort to get him out the door. He didn't budge, but instead held her wrists in his hands. He turned to look down at them, the pale shiny lines of skin across them catching his attention. Katniss pulled away before he could say anything, although he wasn't going to.
"Katniss." was all he could say. What do you say to someone who had gone so far as to inflict harm on themselves anyway? He earnestly hoped the scars weren't fresh, and that they were but remnants of an awful past. But that was the problem wasn't it? Katniss' past. He didn't know anything about her, and she just wouldn't let it go. He decided he was going to change that. "Where to?"
Katniss looked at him, obvious distrust in her face. "W-what?"
"If you're leaving here, you sure as hell aren't driving." Peeta told her, a bit mockingly. He knew he had a big mouth, and half the time all he could come up with in conversation was insults, but if they got Katniss worked up, there was a higher chance of him getting his way. "If you're half as bad on the open road as you are in the parking lot, I'm pretty sure driving this late at night in a storm would be a bad idea."
She glared at him, obviously insulted. 'Hey, at least she was loathing him instead of loathing herself.'
"C'mon." Peeta said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he pulled Katniss across from the driver seat onto the passenger seat before maneuvering his way over Katniss to switch places. His leg caught on the gear shift, and as Katniss tried to help unhook him, he struggled to get his leg free himself. "I'm fine, don't touch me." He said, a bit too defensively, causing Katniss to lean back lamely on her seat as he freed his leg from the contraption.
As he settled in comfortably in the seat he turned to Katniss, a gentle smile on his face. "Where to, Madame?" He asked playfully with his best British accent, recovering from his earlier tone.
Katniss just looked straight ahead into the rain. "Anywhere." She answered. "Anywhere but here."
Notes: I'm particularly happy with this chapter. When I write AU fiction, I make it a point to draw parallels to the original, and I hope you guys have noticed and appreciated some of them, like the theme of hunger, Haymitch's obvious preference for Peeta (although there is something to be said with his complicated relationship with Katniss), and other hints I've dropped concerning where this story is headed.
Hope you guys enjoyed more of OOC Cato and Badass Peeta. I'm currently debating in myself who makes better comedic relief, Haymitch, or Cato, but I find they both tickle my funny bone in different ways.
Now for the Reader Pop Quiz.
How old was Peeta when he bought his first CD with his own money?
Post your answer along with your review for an extended preview of the next chapter.
Chapter 4: Explosions
Peeta drove around the city idly as Katniss sat in her seat, biting her nails, deep in thought. He made a turn to a familiar diner he had come to frequent in his stay before parking and unbuckling his seatbelt.
"What are you doing?" Katniss looked up from her reverie at Peeta who had now gotten out of the car.
"We're going out for a bite." He answered simply. "I haven't eaten the whole day, and I don't know about you but I'm starving."
Katniss looked outside the car to the bright neon lights that decorated a beat-up old diner.
"It's the only place I know that's open this time at night." Peeta explained. "Don't worry, the food's better than you think."
Katniss frowned and refused to get out of her seat. She was adamant about not moving until her stomach betrayed her with a large resounding growl.
"Looks like The Beast's tank is empty." Peeta laughed. "Gotta fill her up now."
Katniss glared at him before unbuckling her seatbelt begrudgingly and getting out of the car.
"That a girl." Peeta walked over to the other side of the car to meet her and shut the door behind her. "Don't worry. It's my treat."
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