Disclaimer: All the genius for the characters goes to Suzanne Collins, and to Pixar for the plotline (Loosely from "Up!")

Chapter 3

Peeta was almost done icing a tray of cookies when he heard the bells jingle upfront. He wondered who it was, but quickly found out when his older brother, Quinn, yelled to him from behind the register, "Hey, Peeta! Finnick is here!"

Quickly wiping his hands on a rag, Peeta ran to the front of the bakery, around the counter, and hugged his friend. "Finn! I missed you! You were gone forever!"

Finnick gave him an equally large hug with a matching smile, but pushed him away gently after a moment and said, "Aw, I missed you too, Pillsbury, but don't get all mushy on me. I mean, I was only at swimming camp, and it was only, what, two months?"

"And a week!" Peeta added, Finnick rolling his eyes at him.

"And a week!" Quinn mocked from behind them in a high-pitched voice, causing Peeta to turn and glare at him. "What?" Quinn asked in an innocent tone, causing Peeta to huff and Finnick to chuckle. "Can you two lovebirds get a room? Like, have your reunion somewhere else…. Out of my sight?"

"Come on, Finn," Peeta said, leading his friend to the back. "I still have two more trays of cookies to frost."

"Man, come on!" Finnick whined, hopping up on the top of a table beside the one Peeta was working on. "We are meeting everyone in an hour! I wanted to get to Katniss's early."

"Why?" Peeta asked, already icing his fourth cookie.

"I don't know," Finnick replied, dipping his finger in the bowl of icing beside Peeta, earning him a look from the small baker. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice," Finnick said then licked the icing off his finger while Peeta shook his head, resuming his work. "I guess I just wanted to spend some time with Annie. She's there early helping her set up, and… What?" Finnick's train of thought was derailed by an amused look from Peeta. "What?!" he asked again, but with more annoyance.

"You like her," Peeta said, a mischievous grin on his face, and a glint in his eye to match.

"Do not!" Finnick protested loudly.

"Do, too!" Peeta retaliated.

"Do not!" Finnick said even louder, grabbing the bowl of icing and setting it in his lap.

"Do, too!" came Quinn's voice from up front, making Peeta laugh and causing Finnick to jump and drop the bowl of icing on the floor, which made Peeta laugh even harder.

Rushing back at the sound of the metal bowl clanging on the floor, Quinn came in with a grin on his face, but asked in an exasperated tone, "What did you guys do now?"

Peeta was laughing too hard to answer, so Finnick just pointed to the empty bowl, the icing now coating the floor and said, "You made me do it!"

Sighing, Quinn went and got the mop, and told the boys, "Go ahead. I'll take care of this."

"Are you sure?" Peeta asked.

"Yeah," his brother replied with a sweet smile. "The icing has to be cleaned up, and a new batch mixed, before you could finish anyway, and by then you would be late, so go ahead. Besides, what kind of guy would I be if I didn't help out my little ten year old brother, and I can't trust Finnick to mix the icing, anyway. It would all be eaten before it made it to the cookies."

They both looked at Finnick who was wiping up spilled icing on the tabletop he was sitting on with his finger, and then eating it. They caught him midway and he froze, index finger pointed at his mouth, covered in frosting, his mouth wide open. After a few second he simply smiled a mischievous grin and after a few more seconds, continued eating the icing.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Summer was over, and that made Katniss sad. Summer was her favorite season – it meant swimming in the lake with her father, laying out in the sun to dry off, and sleeping with the windows open…. So to make it not so bad, she decided to have a party at her house with her best friends to say good-bye to summer, and hello to the new school year; they were going to be 5th graders, after all. They were going to have a bonfire in the meadow by her house, and maybe even get in the lake.

As they set out the marshmallow roasters and stuff on the picnic table in the meadow, Katnis asked Annie, "You sure everyone said they could come?"

"Yes! For the millionth time!" Annie replied with an amused smile. She had come early to help her make the snacks and get everything ready, and boy was Katniss glad she had help.

"Okay, " Katniss said, then after a moment, "I'm just going to name them off to make sure we didn't forget anyone." Katniss scowled in concentration while Annie huffed in aggravation.

"Gale?" she asked.

"Yes," Annie confirmed.

"Johanna?"

"Yes."

"Finnick?"

"Yes," Annie blushed.

"Peeta?" Katniss blushed.

"Yes."

"You like Finnick, don't you?" Katniss asked Annie.

"You like Peeta, don't you?" Annie replied, to which they both giggled with rosy cheeks, and stared at the ground.

"Brainless! I'm here!" Johanna Mason shouted to the left of the two girls, who looked up and saw her walking toward them, carrying something in her hands. "Oh hi, Sunshine!" she said, giving a hug to Annie, then turning and hugging Katniss. "Here. I brought nachos."

"Nachos?" Annie asked in a curious voice. "Why nachos?"

"What?" Johanna stated more than asked. "Nachos not-yo thing? Get it? Nacho, not-yo…"

Katniss could barely muster an eye roll at the terrible joke, while Annie's face just stayed blank. "Oh, never mind," Johanna huffed.

"Heeeeeeey! We're here!" came Finnick's voice, and all three turned to see Finnick and Peeta walking up, Finn's arm slung over Peeta's shoulder.

"Hey, Finn! Hey, Bread Boy!" Johanna greeted, as they got closer. "I brought nachos!"

"Nachos?" Peeta asked in the same way Annie had, causing her to giggle, and Katniss to grin.

"What," Finnick turned to look at Peeta, arm still slung over his shoulder, "Nachos not-yo thing? Get it? Nacho, not-yo…" Peeta turned to look at the girls and found Katniss and Annie were on the ground laughing so hard, they were red in the face and no sound was coming out, except for an occasional snort from Katniss.

Johanna, on the other hand, was still standing, arms cross, a small amused smile on her face, and said, "Yeah, you're right, Brainless. That was bad."

"What was bad?" Gale asked walking up behind Finnick and Peeta, coming between them, and throwing them each into a headlock, tilting them backward so he could see their faces. Turning his head down to Peeta he greeted with a nod, "Bread Boy."

"Grumpy," Peeta replied with a grin, though his voice a bit strangled as he struggled to get out of the headlock.

Gale turned his head to Finnick, nodded and said, "Goldilocks."

"Godzilla," Finnick replied, gritting his teeth and his voice strangled like Peeta's.

Keeping them in the headlock, Gale looked up at the girls, nodding to each in turn, "Hey, Catnip, Jo, Sunshine." Then turning back to Johanna, "Jo, what was bad?"

"Oh, yeah! Well, I brought nachos and Peeta and Annie asked me why and-"

"What?" Gale cut her off. "Nachos not-yo thing? Get it? Nacho, not-yo…"

Everyone started snorting with laughter, and Finnick and Peeta tapped Gales arms while saying, "UNCLE!" over and over until he let them go, and they both crumpled to the ground in laughter.

"What?" Gale asked no one in particular. When he was greeted with more laughter, he asked again, this time more agitated, "What?!"

Jo just chuckled and said, "I'm surrounded by nuts!"

A/N: Ta-da! If you have any ideas or suggestions for this story, please PM me, or leave a comment/review! (Comment/review/follow anyway. You know you want to. :P)

Also, you can find me on tumblr: Konzelwoman

In the hopes that you have read this far, thank you. May the odds be ever in your favor, the force always be with you, and may you live long and prosper.

And once again, Disclaimer: All the genius for the characters goes to Suzanne Collins, and to Pixar for the plotline (Loosely from "Up!")