Ten Years Later.
PEETA
"Kat! Where did you put my oil pastels?" Peeta shouts as he rakes through several drawers, rustling through mountains of old papers within them. It had felt as if everything had been shifted around in the move, and now Peeta was struggling to find his crucial art supplies.
Peeta sifted through a stack of old papers, seemingly from their college apartment, as many of them were Katniss' graded essays, all of them receiving embarrassingly high marks. He smiles and clicks through his tongue, hating his smart-arse of a wife.
However, about halfway through the stack, one smaller piece of paper falls from the stack, and on the back is a paragraph from an old biology textbook. Peeta's eyes widen in recognition as he leans down, picking up the paper and flipping it over, a smile erupting on his face.
Katniss and Peeta's very important set of rules in order to fake-date successfully.
A.K.A operation Bread-Arrow.
"No way!" Peeta chuckles as he thumbs the page, Katniss' faint handwriting bringing him back to that frustrating time, of loving her so deeply that it hurt.
"Operation Bread-Arrow is still a stupid name," Peeta scoffs as he reads the old rules that had once meant so much to them.
RULE ONE - We tell nobody (especially Prim).
"Well, I broke that one first," Peeta laughs, thinking of that embarrassing day in Panem State Library, and of how happy Annie and Finnick had been when Peeta finally told them that they had gotten over themselves, and had finally gotten together.
RULE TWO - NO kissing except for on the cheek.
Peeta scoffs, unable to believe just how naive they were, he could not imagine a world in which he didn't kiss the living daylights out of Katniss Everdeen.
RULE THREE - NO sex, (no need for smug family members).
Peeta blushes after reading this one, thinking of how they had christened their new shower last night with some certain nefarious activities. He tried not to let his mind dwell on this, knowing that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he dwelled on the thought for too long.
RULE FOUR - We will attend Katniss' mother's wedding together in three weeks.
This one is the only rule that the two didn't actually break, Peeta muses, as he thinks of that wedding and how it had changed everything. Of the silky green dress Katniss had worn…
"Sorry darling, I found your pastels, they were packed upstairs with my gym stuff."
Katniss pulls his attention from the paper, and he turns, seeing her dressed in her comfy leggings and an old Panem State sweatshirt. Her hair is tied in its usual braid, and she's as radiant as ever.
"Thanks, I'm afraid I tore these drawers apart looking for them," Peeta replies with a smile, and Katniss scoffs disapprovingly, putting his case of pastels on the table in the hallway.
She eyes the piece of paper still in Peeta's hands cautiously as she approaches. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."
"Oh but it is," Peeta chuckled, turning the page so that Katniss could see it.
"Rule five," Peeta began reading aloud, and Katniss audibly cringed, burying her head in Peeta's shoulder.
"Spare me!" Katniss exclaimed, but there was a lightness to her voice.
"Rulefive," Peeta repeated, putting on a fancy sort of speaking voice. "We will break up after the wedding, and nothing will change."
Katniss scoffed into Peeta's shoulder, reaching for the paper.
"There is no way I actually wrote that," Katniss said, and as she grasped onto the side of the page, Peeta snatched it from her.
"Oh but you did. My bestest and most platonic friend," Peeta joked, holding the paper just out of arms reach of Katniss.
This started a game of cat and mouse between the two, with Peeta darting into another room with the offending paper, causing Katniss to chase after him.
"Come back here Mellark, I am going to burn that paper and you next!" Katniss yelled, watching as Peeta hopped over several stacked boxes on the floor around them.
"I'd love to see you try,MrsMellark," Peeta commented back, waving the paper in the air and darting back of the room.
Katniss chased after him, finding themselves in their kitchen, with Peeta running into a corner, Katniss hot on his heels.
"Are you looking for a divorce? Cause I'll give you one!" Katniss teased as she found herself pinning Peeta in the corner of the kitchen, approaching him with a devilish smirk on her face.
"Divorce me if you want, but it'll be you living without my cheese buns," Peeta chided, reaching forward for Katniss and pulling her into his arms.
Katniss scoffed, finally snatching the paper out of Peeta's hand and examining it. Peeta smiled and rested his head on the top of Katniss, his hands stroking her waist.
"This was so stupid, all of that charade just because I had a silly crush on you," Katniss laughed, stroking the page fondly.
"Silly crush?" Peeta remarked. "I think you mean undying, everlasting, ever longinglove."
Katniss laughed, "you are a cheeseball."
Peeta laughed, and his hand skated to Katniss' stomach, even though it was still as flat as a pancake, he could swear it felt slightly bigger.
"I wonder how little Willow will think about how her parents fell in love."
Katniss turns, facing Peeta with a shocked look on her face.
"Willow? We don't even know if they're a girl or a boy yet!"
Peeta smirks, and he leans down to kiss Katniss.
"I don't know, I have a feeling."
Katniss laughed, pecking Peeta back and looking at the paper one last time, her thumb stroking the last rule.
"Nothing will change," Katniss murmured under her breath, and she took a moment to look at Peeta, a blush dusting her skin.
"Everything changed, didn't it?" She asked softly, taking a rare moment to be sincere.
"Everything," Peeta agreed, grabbing the paper out of Katniss' hand and a spare magnet, sticking the rules to the fridge.
"Let Operation Bread-Arrow-Willow commence!" Peeta exclaimed, and Katniss scoffed, an absent hand resting on her stomach.
"And let everything change," Katniss murmurs, loud enough so that she knows Peeta will hear.