Disclaimer: All the genius for the characters goes to Suzanne Collins, and to Pixar for the plotline (Loosely from "Up!")
A/N: Since they are all together now, this first part of this chapter will be a general POV, instead of Peeta, and the second half will be Katniss and Peeta. Oh! And for the story's sake, all the characters are the same age, except for Finnick is a year older – held back a year in school – and Gale is two years older, and in the correct grade. Also, I have used a few lines straight from THG. I do no own them, as I have already disclaimed. As well as "How to Train your Dragon" and "Finding Nemo". Dream Works and Pixar.
Chapter 4
Soon after what was later referred to as, "The Nacho Incident", Peeta's father arrived, along with his two older brothers, Quinn and Jeffery.
"Hey!" Peeta said in surprise, walking over to them. "Why are you here?"
"What," Quinn quipped, ruffling Peeta's curls, "You not want us here or something?"
"N-no, I just thought you'd sti-"
"That's alright," Jeffery cut him off. "If he doesn't want us here, then we'll just take the cake back with us…."
"Cake?" Finnick yelled from across the meadow. "Did I hear someone say 'cake'?"
Roughly, yet in a playful manner, Mr. Mellark grabbed his two eldest sons by the scruff of the neck and said with a deep laugh, "You two give your brother a break! He's with his friends." Then turning to Peeta, "You are right, Peeta. Normally we would still be at the bakery, but we closed up early due to an invitation from Mr. Everdeen."
Peeta couldn't contain his smile anymore. He was surrounded by his friends, his family… "But," his smile faded slightly. "Where's mom?"
This time there was no laughter in Mr. Mellark's voice. "She, uh," he searched his mind for the right words, only to have Peeta say them himself.
"She's not coming… Is she," he said as if it were a fact, and not a question.
"No," Mr. Mellark admitted, his face starting to turn down and match his youngest son's.
"But we're here!" Quinn jumped in.
"Yeah!" Jeffery added. "And we are going to give you all kinds of trouble," he said with a fake and mischievous grin on his face. Quinn elbowed him in the ribs. "Uh, I mean," he backtracked. "All kinds of fun. Yeah. That's it. Fun!"
The smile now back on Peeta's face, albeit a bit less happy, Mr. Mellark mirrored it as he once again grabbed his two eldest sons, carting them off with a chuckle.
Then, as if on cue, Peeta saw Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen walking towards the group, with Katniss's six year old little sister Prim running around them, smelling all the flowers and picking them until she could not carry anymore. Trailing behind her every twist and turn she made was her cat, Buttercup.
"Ugh," Katniss said from beside Peeta, making him jump. He had not heard her coming.
"How did you get here?" the shocked expression on his face causing her to giggle.
"Um, I walked? My house is, like, fifty yards that way."
"No, not here," Peeta rolled his eyes, but was unable to suppress his grin. He never could around her. "I mean, Here, beside me. I didn't hear you."
"I know," was all Katniss said, with a small grin, then she looked back toward her family with a scowl.
"What? Why are you scowling and saying, 'ugh'?" he asked, letting the sneak attack drop.
"That cat!" she cried. "I hate that cat!"
As if he knew she was talking about him, the cat looked up, looking right at Katniss and hissed.
"I'll still cook you," she said under her breath, making Peeta chuckle.
Seeing her cat hiss, Prim looked up and saw her sister. "Katniss!" she cried, a huge smile gracing her face as she dropped all the flowers she was carrying and ran to her sister.
"Prim!" Katniss called back, getting down onto one knee and holding her arms open for the impending impact know as Prim's hugs.
Upon their collision, the force of Prim's running knocked Katniss backward with a small shriek and Prim collapsed on top of her, still smiling that smile.
Finally cracking a real smile, Katniss looked up at her sister. "Wow, you were really flying, Little Duck!"
Prim started to giggle, but was suddenly lifted up into the air. Looking to see who it was, Katniss saw Gale holding her sister and tickling her as he whispered nonsense to her, making Prim giggle all the more as he carried her over to the picnic table and the others.
"Need a hand, Bullseye?"
Still lying on the ground, Katniss looked up to see who was speaking, but she didn't need to, she knew that voice anywhere. Smiling up at her father who had an outstretched hand ready to help her up, she grabbed his hand and said, "I've already got two of 'em, but an extra is always nice."
Laughing with his daughter, Mr. Everdeen picked her up and swung her around, her legs flailing behind her as she spun around and around. Just as he was about to set her down, her feet inches from the ground and his hands still tightly gripped around her small torso, he grinned mischievously and said, "Oop! Gotta spin you the other way now or you'll be dizzy! Gotta unwind!"
Katniss began to scream a shrill, excited scream, which quickly turned into a squeal of delight and intermittent snorts of laughter as her father swung her the other way.
With her feet finally back on the ground, she turned to see Peeta still standing there, the smile on his face as big as it always was, looking right at her. She smiled back and tried to walk the few steps over to him, but was dizzy from being spun, and reached out to grab Peeta's shoulder and steady herself.
A playful grin on his face, but concern in his eyes, he asked Katniss, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy still," and with that, they both looked at her father. "'Unwind' my butt!" she said to him, causing him to chuckle as she went on. "'Unwind' he said. 'Go the other way or you'll be dizzy' he said."
Mr. Everdeen had his chin tucked to his chest looking rather guilty, but the grin on his face said otherwise.
Mrs. Everdeen walked up behind him and crossed her arms. Shaking her head as she spoke, she said, "Mark, you know that never works."
Jumping at the sound of her voice, Mr. Everdeen whirled around. "Joyce, how did you get there?"
"I walked," she stated, a grin creeping up her face. "Our house is only a short walk that way, Mark, you know that."
"No, not here as in the meadow," Mr. Everdeen said rolling his eyes. "I mean, oh never mind" he finished.
Katniss was trying to suppress her snorts of laughter, as was Peeta, at the exchange between her parents that almost exactly mirrored theirs not five minutes earlier.
Turning to walk toward the picnic table, Katniss let go of Peeta's shoulder and quickly realized she was still dizzy. Before she could even say his name, Peeta had grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers, and helped to steady her.
"You okay?" he asked again.
Shaking her head no, Katniss gripped his hand tighter and stared at the ground in an attempt to hide the fierce blush now spread on her cheeks. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at their joined hands then up to his face, and saw he was rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand like he was nervous, and the tips of his ears were bright red. Behind her she could hear her parent's whispering and could have sworn she heard the words "Katniss", "Peeta", and "Cute".
"Well, then," Peeta said, finally breaking the silence. "I'll help you walk over there."
As she felt him grip her hand even harder, she said, "Cross your heart?"
Peeta lifted their joined hands and crossed them in an "x" over his heart. "Always."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
After that, the day just seemed to fly by. It was full of fun things like swimming in the lake, playing games like hide-and-seek and capture the flag in the woods surrounding the meadow, and a delicious meal of hotdogs that had been roasted on the fire while they watched the sunset topped it all off.
Annie, Mrs. Everdeen, and Prim looked on in disgust as Peeta, Finnick, and Gale had a hot dog eating contest to see who got the first smore.
Mr. Everdeen, Mr. Mellark, Quinn, Jeffery, Johanna, and Katniss, on the other hand, were gathered in a circle around the picnic table, loudly cheering them on.
Gale gave up first. "If I keep eating these, I won't be able to eat a smore, anyway!" was his reasoning, to which everyone agreed.
Several minutes later, Finnick grabbed his stomach and moaned. "I can't do this! This is impossible!"
"You didn't say that while you were inhaling the icing earlier today," Quinn jabbed at him, to which Finnick replied by sticking his tongue out at Quinn and mimicking him in a high pitched voice, making everyone laugh.
"That means Peeta is the winner!" Mr. Mellark said proudly.
Jeffery grabbed Peeta and hoisted him up onto his shoulders as everyone cheered.
Using a hotdog bun as a pretend mic, Quinn held it up and said in a very loud and exaggerated voice, "Mr. Mellark, you are the new Panem Meadow Hotdog Eating Contest champion!" Everybody cheered, then quieted down when Quinn began speaking again, "What do you have to say to that?"
Peeta wore his usual grin and replied into the hotdog bun outstretched in Quinn's hand, "I say, Grumpy, Finn, you both did very well…. BUT I WON!" Everyone erupted in cheers and laughter.
"What was your method for stuffing your face?" Quinn asked into the bun, quickly turning it back to Peeta for his reply.
"Just eat normally! I learned that a long time ago from a very good friend of mine in a cheese bun eating contest," Peeta said into the bun, then looked at Katniss.
She was smiling, but her cheeks started to turn pink.
"Yeah, that was fun," Gale said. "Until you threw that cookie at my head."
Everyone looked on in confusion as Gale, Peeta, Katniss, and Mr. Mellark laughed, remembering the first day they met.
After being set down, Peeta went to collect his prize to make the very first smore of the evening. Gale and Finnick looked on, nearly drooling as he held the marshmallow over the fire.
Katniss stood beside him, holding two gram crackers with a piece of chocolate in the middle so that Peeta could make it without having to go anywhere. After Peeta had the marshmallow to his liking, he turned and held it on the end of the skewer between the two gram crackers, and Katniss smooshed it between them while pulling it off the skewer.
She held it out to him, but he shook his head. Confused, she said, "Peeta, you won the first smore! Here you go."
"No. I made it for you," he said softly, his ears turning red again and he stared at the fire.
Katniss didn't know what to say, so she went ahead and ate it.
Johanna smacked Gale's chest with the back of her hand, and he looked at her as if she had two heads. "Why couldn't you win and do that for me? I want chocolate, Toothless."
"Toothless?" Gale asked.
"Yeah. Like from 'How to Train Your Dragon'? You are a lot like the dragon Toothless. He looks big, and scary, but he's really just a giant puppy."
"Yeah, Dragon Boy," Finnick mocked. Gale only had to look at him for Finnick to hide behind Annie with a grimace and whisper, "Sorry, Dragon Boy."
Slowly everyone ended up sitting around the fire. Katniss was, of course, between Gale and Peeta, with Gale on her left, and Peeta to her right. Next to Peeta was Finnick, then Annie, Quinn, Jeffery, Mr. Mellark, Mr. Everdeen with Prim in his lap and Buttercup weaving between his feet. Next to him was Mrs. Everdeen, then Johanna, who was next to Gale.
Katniss leaned over to whisper to Peeta, "You know, I tried to drown that cat once."
Peeta could only adopt a look of sheer horror as he said a little too loudly, "Why on earth would you do that?"
"Shhhhhh! Because, he followed me to my tree house in the woods, and I didn't want anyone else to find it, so-"
"So you tried to drown a cat. How would that help? It's a cat. They can't talk, Katniss. Besides, who was he gonna tell?"
Katniss scowled at him, "Good point. But still. No one, not even that ugly cat, gets to know where my mission control is."
Peeta smiled at the thought. She had a mission control like he used to in the bakery.
"Not even me? I let you into my mission control!"
"Oh yeah? Where?"
"The bakery! All those times I let you come and help me ice cookies?"
"You mean the things that were like stones covered in warts?"
Peeta glared at her, but it melted when she giggled.
"Uh-oh, Mr. Grumpy Gills," she said in a fake pouty voice.
"Seriously? My favorite movie and I let you into my mission control, but I can't come to yours?" He really hoped she'd say yes. "Does Gale know where it is?"
"Nope."
Finally. Something he could share with her without Gale, and the rest of the gang. He wanted to spend time with just her.
"Please?" he whined, giving her puppy dog eyes.
"Fine," she scowled. "But only if you make me cheesebuns and real, edible cookies to eat while we are there. Better make some wart-stones, too. We can throw them at any trespassers."
They both crossed their heart to meet up at Katniss's house at dawn, just the two of them, then go to the tree house. He was so happy she had agreed to let him into her secret. She had almost backed out when he said the cheese buns and cookies would have to be leftovers if they were meeting that early.
"Alright, alright!" Mr. Everdeen called, addressing the whole group. "Today we went swimming in the lake, played capture the flag-"
"And we won!" Gale shouted while high-fiving Finnick.
"Played capture the flag," Mr. Everdeen said again, pointedly at the boys, causing them to melt down to their seats on the ground. "Hide-and-seek, and just got to have a day with all of our loved ones. This is a day you should all remember. As you grow older, things get harder, but if you have people you love and trust surrounding you, you will never be alone. There will always be someone there to pull you through, no matter the circumstance. You all have a very special friendship," he looked at each child in turn as he continued, "don't you ever let that go. You may have peculiar nicknames for each other, most of which I do not understand," he smiled as they all giggled, "but I know you all have each other's backs, and will always protect one another."
The happy atmosphere that had encompassed the group not moments before now felt heavy and slightly sad.
Sensing this, Mr. Mellark jumped in, "Aw, come on, Mark! Way to kill the mood." All the kids laughed, so he ran with it. "Harsh my mellow, down my vibe-"
"Dad! Stop!" Peeta said through snorts of laughter, but everyone was laughing just as hard as he was, so Mr. Mellark continued.
"Whatever, dude," and a new round of laughter went around the circle. "Tell you what. To atone for my good friend Mark's mellow harshing words," more giggles, accompanied by groans of annoyance by some, "I will tell you all a story. A wonderful story. A fantastic story. A story so amazing, you won't even believe it."
"So it's a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious story?" Finnick grinned, being rewarded with "Boo!"s and crumpled napkins thrown at him.
"In a sense," Mr. Mellark grinned back at Finnick, causing his grin to melt into pure intrigue.
"Now this I gotta hear."
Mr. Mellark could not contain his own laughter anymore, and it's deep, infectious waves caused everyone to smile and look to the eldest Mellark. Looking from face to face hey saw anticipation, happiness, and love. "Then, on the other hand, it's getting late, so…"
Everyone moaned and a chorus of "No!"s echoed around the fire, causing him to flash a grin that let them know he was joking, and earned crumpled napkins thrown at him. "Ow!" he said jokingly as one bounced off his arm, and he reached to rub the spot. "Those things hurt!"
"I know, right?" Finnick ducked as more were tossed his way. "Missed me," he grinned, and then screamed as one hit him right in the face. He looked at the faces around the fire, fuming, and noticed everyone was pointing towards Johanna and Katniss, who looked at each other, then back to Finnick, each pointing at the other.
"Good thing you two are girls, otherwise I'd come over there and-"
"And what?" Johanna asked him.
"Yes, Finn, what would you do?" Katniss added.
Peeta, Gale, Quinn, and Jeffery were snickering.
"Good thing we're friends," he said, glowering at the two girls.
"Now, now," Mr. Mellark said, trying to defuse the situation, but unable to hide the small smile he had on his face. "That story…. It is a story beyond all stories. Utterly amazing. Extre-"
"Oh, just tell them already!" Mr. Everdeen said exasperatedly, Prim trying very hard not to fall asleep in his lap.
"Will you help me?" Mr. Mellark asked his friend.
"Oh, why not," Mr. Everdeen relented. "But you start."
"You two are acting like children!" Peeta mused.
"Yeah! Get on with it!" Katniss said.
"Okay, Okay," Mr. Mellark then cleared his throat. "This story begins in a far off land, on an island with no name. It was a small island, and was inhabited by many odd creatures. There were monkeys the size of ants, frogs that sang instead of croaked, tigers that were pink with purple stripes, and lightning bugs as big as birds. But the most special creature that lived there was a bird that flew only at night, leaving stardust in it's wake, and it sang a song so beautiful, the stars themselves seems to echo it right back. People would come to the island, their only task to find 'The Bird of the Stars', but no one could ever find it. It was as if at daytime, it vanished into thin air." The children gasped. "But my theory, is that it flew back up to the stars to wait until nightfall. I almost caught it one night-"
"Wait, WHAT?" Peeta said. "YOU went to try to find this bird? It's real?"
"Yes it is," Mr. Everdeen piped in, quietly so as not to wake sleeping Prim. "I was there, too."
"WHAT?" Katniss shouted, earning her "shhhhhhh!"s.
"Yes, I was, Bullseye," he chuckled. "That is how Mr. Mellark and I met. We went with a team of researchers. I was there to study the bird's song, and Carl here was the chef," he said putting his hand on Mr. Mellarks shoulder. "That pearl necklace your mother has?" Katniss nodded. "I pulled it right out of an oyster myself on that very island. Well, the pearl, not the whole necklace, of course," he finished with a wink.
"Wait, so this place is real?" Finnick asked, and both of the fathers nodded. "We have to go!"
"Maybe someday we can all go. We never found the buried treasure, did we Carl?"
"No, Mark, we never did. It's probably still there, waiting for someone to…" Mr. Mellark trailed off with a grin growing on his face as he notice every set of child's eyes on him.
Looking at her watch, Mrs. Everdeen gasped and said, "Mark, you have work early in the morning, and I know the Mellark's all have to be up with the sun. It's already 10 PM, and you still have to drive the others home."
"You're right," Mr. Everdeen said, earning him "Aw!"s and "No!"s from all the kids, but promised to tell them more before school started in a few days.
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
After everyone had said their goodbyes, the kids got in a group huddle before they got into Mr. Everdeen's car to go home.
"We have got to go there and find that treasure," Finnick said.
"Agreed, Goldilocks, but when and how? I mean, I'm just starting high school, you guys are starting 5th grade…" Gale trailed off.
"Brainless, you've gotta pump your dad for more info," Johanna told Katniss. "You, too, Bread Boy."
Katniss and Peeta nodded.
"I don't know," Annie finally piped up. "It all sounds so dangerous…."
"Oh, come on, Sunshine, don't be so…. Overcast."
Everyone moaned at Johanna's attempt to redeem her nacho joke from earlier in the evening.
"Hey! It was worth a shot!" she protested.
Finally they all agreed to meet up the next day back in the meadow and try to come up with a plan, all crossing their hearts that they would be there. Saying goodbye once again, all but Katniss, Peeta and his family piled into Mr. Everdeen's car and were off to their own homes.
"Dad, can you pick me up in front of Kat's house? I want to walk her over there," Peeta asked his dad.
"Sure, son," he winked, leading his two eldest sons toward the car.
After his family was a ways away, Peeta turned to Katniss and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers just like earlier. She looked at him with her usual scowl of confusion.
"Just wanted to make sure you weren't still dizzy."
Her scowl melted as the shy grin turned up her lips, making it's way to her eyes.
"There we go. Gotta turn that frown upside down!"
She laughed, her nose scrunched up, and her eyes twinkling under the stars. Peeta decided there was not a better sound in the world than her laugh, and that realization made him grin.
"So, if our dad's were originally in this together, than we need to be in it together, too," he told her. She seemed to ponder this, than nodded her agreement, the smile still on her face.
He realized they hadn't started walking yet, so he turned to her and said, "Uh, you know, you're house is about fifty yards that way."
She play punched him in the arm. "I know that, Bread Boy."
"I know that you know that, Kat."
"Well, I know that you know that I know that, Peeta."
All he could do was smile. He couldn't stop.
"What?" she asked, "Do I have something in my teeth?"
"No, it's just…. I was thinking of all the adventures we could have on that island. But there is some scary stuff there, too. But like your dad said, if we stick together, we can have each other's backs, right?"
"Right. Because that's what you and I do, protect each other."
"Right."
They still had yet to take a step towards her house.
"Let's play a game," Peeta said, starting to walk.
"Okay," Katniss walked beside him, still holding hands.
"It's called 'Real or not real'. You ask a question, and the other person responds with, 'Real' or 'Not real". Understand?"
"Yeah. You go first."
"Sure. Your favorite color is green, real or not real?"
Smiling and looking at him, she answered, "Your remembered…. Real. Your favorite color is orange… like a sunset, real or not real?"
Now it was his turn to smile. "You remembered. Real. You and I are best friends, real or not real?"
"Real. You will never stop making cheesebuns, real or not real?"
Peeta laughed. "Priorities, priorities."
She stopped walking and he turned to face her. "Real or not real?" she asks again.
"Real."
She sighed in relief, making Peeta laugh, and they started walking again
Peeta looked at her face and said, "You like me, real or not real?"
Katniss stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. She scowled for a moment, but it quickly went away as that shy smile came back, and her cheeks went pink under the moonlight.
"Real or not real?" he asked again, looking her right in the eyes.
"Real," she finally whispered, then louder, "Real. I like you, Peeta."
"Cross your heart?"
She brought their intertwined hands up to her chest, and drew an "x" across her heart, just like he had earlier and whispered. "Always."
Realizing their faces were mere inches apart, Peeta gulped and ran his free hand through his hair. It's now or never, he thought. Peeta closed the short distance between them and gave her a small kiss. After he pulled away, he took their now shaky hands and, trying to steady them drew an "x" across his own heart and whispered, "Always."
They both snapped their heads towards Katniss's house when they heard Quinn whistle. "Nice, little bother! Attention, Panem, I would like to introduce you to the Starry Eyed Lovers of the District 12 ISD."
Jeffery was beside him making kissy faces, puckering his lips and making obnoxious kissing sounds.
Mr. Mellark was behind them, smiling at Katniss and Peeta as he grabbed his two boys by the ear and ushered them back into the Everdeen's house through the back door.
Katniss and Peeta were both fiercely blushing.
"I'm sorry," Peeta said. "I had no idea we were already here. I wasn't paying attention."
"It's okay. Always, remember?"
"Always."
A/N: Eh? Eh? 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!")