The next morning Katniss woke up without Peeta in his usual spot, instead he was in the closet getting the laundry.
"Hey sleepyhead." He smiled, the old Katniss would come up with a nice come back for that name but she's been living with him long enough to know he means no harm by it.
"Morning Peeta." She smiled back as she watched him pile clothes into a white basket.
"Wanna know a secret?" Katniss asked as she got out of bed.
"I didn't know you had any secrets.. Thought you were an open book Kat" Kat was another nickname Peeta playfully gave to her and although she'd prefer Katniss instead, this doesn't exactly bother her.
"Maybe I do.. But you're right for the most part, I'm a open book" he smiles as he finished sorting the laundry, whites in one pile and colors in another.
Katniss hasn't been living with Peeta in their own apartment together for very long.. just a few months but she's already wanting to help out with little things like taking the trash out and making meals. How hard could it be to do a little laundry?
"I- I could help if you want.." She waits for him to decline the help but instead she's met with the task of making the bed and getting the laundry detergent off the linen closet floor. To be completely honest, she doesn't mind at all in fact she liked being able to help out like this.
It made her feel needed even if it was just for a few moments. Peeta always let her have that and that's just part of the reason she loves him so much.
After they've gathered the stuff they head down to the laundry room, Katniss knows what these machines do but to see about twenty in one room was kind of awkward.. back in 12 they would just wash their clothes in buckets of rain water. This seemed like a wasted of what little money they had but now she's with Peeta and he doesn't seem to worry about money or anything for that matter.
"Now.. here comes the really hard part." Peeta winks after he's set the basket of clothes on a vacant chair
"Hard part?" Katniss seems confused as to what could be so hard about this
"Oh Yeah here we go..." Peeta grunts and pretends the coins he pulls out of his pocket are really heavy, she knows he's joking and rolls her eyes at him but he goes on anyway pretending to struggle to add coins to the slot and push it in.
"Oh yeah.. because it's so hard to push a little medal tray in." she says, arms folded watching Peeta from the chair she's planted herself in.
" Okay smarty pants.. you try then" he smiles as she stands up and walks over to the machine and tries pushing in the coin tray.
"Okay maybe I underestimated how hard it was a little." Katniss tries once more before she feels a hand on top of hers, helping her finally push the coins in the slot.
"Oops." She finally gets the courage to look at who the hand belonged to.. it's Peeta's hand and as soon as she makes eye contact with him her cheeks turn pink and she pulls her hand back before it gets anymore awkward as if it hasn't already.
There was a long pause after they both sat on vacant chairs and as Katniss looks at herself in the mirror she sighs,
"Who was I Peeta? why was I here? I remember most of it but after what happened after I shut everyone out?"
" You forgot who you were and I had to help you remember.. remember that?" She smiles and turns to him
" I do. I don't know why though.. you didn't just leave me to fade away you know? it's what most would do.. they believe there's no hope for the people who were in the games and came out...disturbed"
" I believed. I wasn't leaving you Katniss never did that cross my mind."
She smiled and returned her gaze to the reflection in the window, after a while longer the dryer beeped indicating it was done. Peeta got up and folded the clothes before returning them to the basket and heading upstairs, she picked up the soap and followed him.
" Thanks for helping with this." Peeta said, pulling Katniss into a hug.
"No problem.. I kinda like helping out anyway." She hugged him tight.
Another Chapter is up! :) sorry I've been busy but hopefully more chapters will get published for this story. I already have an idea for the next one that I'll get to asap.. don't be afraid to leave a like or drop a comment below :) thanks!