~Chapter 5~
A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I've had a busy schedule lately. Anyway, so read and review, as always! As a disclaimer, I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its characters, the only characters I own are my own. These characters consist of Maysilee Mellark, Tommy Odair, Kale Hawthorne, and some of the other characters that will enter the story in later chapters. R&R and enjoy!
Peeta rises out of bed before I do, off to make breakfast, I suppose. Try as I may, I can't fall back to sleep. So I slide on my slippers, and pad down the hallway to the living room, where I find Maysilee sitting quietly on the couch watching cartoons.
She notices me and speaks first. "'Morning, momma."
"Good morning, sweet pea," I say, walking closer. Peeta hasn't said anything, so I guess he doesn't know I'm awake yet.
We both pause, looking each other over, before she turns back to her television show.
When the war ended, the Capital was made to treat the districts the same as they will be treated. We have the options of surgically altering ourselves, changing the gender of unborn children, wearing excessive amounts of makeup, and other crazy things, but the districts don't want to change themselves. Some of them refuse to even watch the television shows provided for them. In our family, that doesn't happen. Maysi loves her shows.
"What are you watching?" I ask.
"Tom and Jerry. Shhh!" she replies anxiously, never looking away from the screen, where an ugly cat and a brown mouse are whacking each other with baseball bats. I never thought I'd say this, but that car may even be uglier than Buttercup. Boy, is that saying something.
My eyes land on a bowl that is lodged between Maysi's legs, which are crossed Indian-style.
"Maysi," I say.
She looks up very briefly before her head turns back to the TV in the blink of an eye.
"What's in that bowl?" I ask.
She finally looks up from her show, looking me in the eyes. She contemplates whether to lie or tell the truth. "M&Ms," she admits.
"Are you supposed to be eating on the couch?"
"No ma'am."
"Are you supposed to be eating candy before meals?"
"No, mommy."
"Uh, huh. That's what I thought. Hand it over," I say, holding my hand out for her favorite little tie dye bowl.
She gives it to me, and I walk away to the kitchen, stuffing a handful into my mouth.
I just barely make it inside the kitchen before I slip. I scream while going down, and Peeta turns around to see what the commotion is. "Oh my gosh! Katniss, you about gave me a heart attack! Golly!" he exclaims.
"Well maybe you shouldn't have left a wet dish towel on the floor," I reply, accepting his hand as he pulls me up.
"Well, that was the wrong way to start off a morning," he jokes. We both laugh. "Will you clean up that candy while I finish breakfast?"
"Yeah," I say, leaning over. I kneel down to pick the chocolate up. It takes a few minutes before I notice his eyes on me. I look up at him. "What?"
"Nothing," he says. He doesn't look away, though.
I crouch down, my feet bent slightly, and rest my arms on my knees. "If it's nothing, why are you blushing?"
"I don't know..."
I get up and walk over to him. I kiss him, and when he gets past the surprise, he kisses back. "I know why," I whisper.
"Why?"
I kiss him again before answering. "Because you love me."
He smiles, and pushes me away gently. "Yup. Now move it, you're going to make me burn these pancakes before they even turn solid. Will you get me the flour?"
He turns around and pours the batter into the pan, and I say, "Sure." A practical joke forms in my head, and it's too late to abandon it. I guess Finnick taught me well. I tip toe over to the pantry, and grab the flour. Tip toeing back to Peeta, I open the sack of white powder as quietly as possible. I tap on his shoulder.
He turns around to see what I want, but doesn't expect the cloud of flour that is dumped over his head. Within seconds, he has transformed into a giant marshmallow.
"Oh, you...!" he exclaims. I honestly didn't see it coming when he grabbed the dish soap and poured it all over my face. Then he gets his hands and wipes it all over me, making it foam up.
"Peeta! Peeta! Peeta, no! No, not the grape juice!"
Too late. I am soaked in juice and dish soap before I can stop him. He's laughing so hard I sort of expect him to start choking on the flour. I snatch a dish towel off the counter and scrub my clothes and face.
Once again, he looks at me. I catch him quick this time, and slap him across the face with the towel before he can defend himself. "You little monster," I tease, giggling.
He grabs a wet paper towel and wipes the now sticky powder off himself. We help each other until all that's left is the uncomfortable sticky feeling all over our hands and face that you get after using syrup.
"You're sticky," I giggle.
"You're sticky and purple," he laughs, squeezing the liquid out of a dripping strand of my hair.
We laugh before wondering why Maysi hasn't come in to see the commotion yet. "She's watching cartoons. She doesn't care," I tell Peeta.
"Then I guess it's safe to say I love you?" he asks, twirling the same strand of hair.
"I guess it's safe to say I love you, too," I reply. "You still have flour on your nose!" I giggle, wiping it off and giving him a small kiss.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Be right back," I say.
When I return to the kitchen, I find Maysilee sitting in Peeta's lap, eating three pancakes at one time, stacking them onto her fork and tearing off bites with her front teeth. "Hey, Maysi May," I say.
"Mommy!" She runs for me and I pick her up when she reaches me, twirling her around before letting her plant a big kiss on my cheek. "I love my mommy!" she exclaims, looking at Peeta and grinning.
"What about me?" he asks, smiling. He knows her well enough to know that she's just kidding.
She struggles against my arms and I let her down. She stands firmly on the ground and announces, "Now I kiss daddy!" with her hands on her hips.
Peeta crouches to the floor and opens his arms for her. She runs as fast as she can for him, and her palms collide with his chest defensively. "I love my daddy!" she says, kissing him on the cheek and smiling hugely at me.
He laughs and she goes back to eating her food. This is why I love children. They love you back.
A/N: Hey again! Just wanted to say thank y'all so much for reading, and I hope y'all liked it! This is chapter five of a story that is probably going to be much longer, and if I get bored today, I might go ahead and upload two or three more chapters, since I've already written them. But I need reviews! Good or bad reviews, I don't care. Just give me some flipping reviews, you guys! And to the many reviews I have gotten asking me when I'm going to update, I'm so sorry about that, but I have a busy life, as I'm sure the rest of you guys and girls out there do sometimes or all the time, and the past couple of weeks have been even busier than usual, so if y'all will just bear with me here, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks for reading, and as usual… May the odds be ever in your favor! Love y'all!