AlwaysEverlark

This moment belongs to this scene:

"Hi Katniss" he says smiling while he fixes the small bouquet in his hands "It's been a long time"

"Are those for your fiancé?" I ask serious, skipping the education protocols and wiping the smile away from his face, I feel satisfaction and sadness at the same time

"So you already know" he affirms slowly.

"Yes, your father told Gale. To be honest, Peeta, I would have expected you to..."

"What were you expecting, Katniss?" He says with an ironic tone that hurts me. "You were the one who broke up. I asked you to marry me and you told me in another life"

"I said: maybe, in another life" I mutter for myself so I'm not surprised when a Peeta can't hear me.

"What was that?" He asks while he moves closer just a few steps from me.

"I didn't say in another life, I told you maybe in another life" I repeat looking at him defiantly.

"Is there any difference?"

"Yes there is, Peeta. The difference is that if we lived in another place or time... I'd have said yes to you".

We remain in silence, one in front of the other, my eyes fixed on the grass under my feet. Suddenly, I see his hand fearfully moving close to mine, as if he thinks that I can move it away at any time, but to be honest, right now I don't want to fight back my feelings, because his absence hurts. Slowly he takes my hand and he sighs while pulls me to bring me closer to him.

"I miss you, Katniss, without you nothing makes sense".

"You are getting married, Peeta," I respond stubborn.

The Undoing

Chapter 3 - I won’t say (I’m in love)

“What are you doing here?” I am surprised to see him at my house. He is wearing something I haven’t seen before, a light blue long sleeve shirt and navy trousers. New clothes I realize. And he looks handsome, his golden locks styled more than usual, his skin glowing under the sun, his blue eyes sparkling. He shines like a diamond among coal … and he doesn’t belong here.

I grab Peeta from the sleeve of his blue shirt and drag him out of the house by the back door to avoid any unwanted gaze.

“Why did you leave this morning without a word?” Peeta challenges me. I might not have spent a lot of time with him, but I can see he’s angry and sad, very sad.

“It’s Prim’s wedding.”

“I know it. That,” he says with emphasis gesturing to the kitchen table “is the wedding cake.”

“I told your dad, Gale would be picking it up.”

“Well Katniss, that’s the issue. You can’t spend the night with me and vanish the next morning as if nothing would have happened,” he’s nearly yelling now.

“Shush, Peeta! Someone could hear us!” I hiss.

“I don’t care” he says with obtuseness.

“Well, I do! I am a married woman and you know that!”

“I wake up to a strong noise, the mines I think immediately. And explosion in the mines. Gale wakes up also and then I realize today is Sunday, it’s still night and no one is working there. And the most important the noise sounds in the opposite direction. It’s coming from town.

“What’s that?

Gale sprints to the window and spots outside.

“Bombs” Gale shouts. “I saw an hovercraft flying South. We need to get out NOW, Catnip”

We dress in a rush, while explosions and engines and cries fill up the night.

Thanks to everyone that has read this story. As a gift to this community I want to share this gorgeous piece of art I commissioned to @charlunday a long time ago for this ending

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3 - Katniss

I am about to shout, “What the hell are you talking about?” when Rye enters the kitchen and announces it is time for the newlywed dance.

In District 12, the best man opens the dance with the bride and then gives her to the groom… and that’s Peeta.

But he doesn’t move. He just stands there, staring at me, like he’s challenging me to answer a question he hasn’t asked out loud. Then, finally, he looks at Rye and shakes his head.

The tension could be cut with a knife.

“What’s wrong here?” Rye asks.

“Nothing,” says Peeta.

Everything, I want to scream. But I remain quiet. Words have never been my strength. And what could I even say, when I don’t understand what’s happening?

Rye tries again. “Peeta, this doesn’t look like noth—”

“Drop it, Rye,” Peeta cuts him off. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

She heard his voice before her eyes landed on him‒the voice of Peeta Mellark

“Hi, Katniss.”

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked at him while grasping her bottle and raising it to her lips to take a second sip from her bottle (which ended up being her worst idea ever). A million thoughts popped up in her head. Peeta had always been a handsome boy: all fair skin, broad shoulders, blond, wavy hair, and pretty blue eyes, but what she found in front of her, talking with Peeta’s voice and smiling with Peeta’s lips, was a different Peeta. A Peeta her mind and body couldn’t reconcile with the image of the kind and gentle boy she’d known her whole life.

This new Peeta was hardly a boy anymore; his features had sharpened, something particularly noticeable in his now chiseled jaw. He was broader and taller, but what left Katniss breathless was his hair. His usually short, blond hair (although not short enough to miss his soft curls falling over his forehead), was now long, reaching his shoulders in a cascade of golden waves, framing his face and illuminating his eyes. And the result was outstanding.

He was gorgeous, she thought, Greek-God type of gorgeous.

Katniss says it at the end of Mockingjay:

“But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?” I tell him, “Real.”

The "TWHHA" Challenges were hosted by @promptseverlark on tumblr during Summer 2023, Summer 2024 and Winter 2024. ___________________________________________________________

SUMMER 2023

Theme/Prompt: Canon Divergence, set in D13 in Panem 🔥 

Any Other Way by cozycoffee

ash and memory by songbirdheart 

Assignment: Kitchen Duty. by albinokittens300

Best Laid Plans by orphan_account

The Brightest Timeline by Brown_Eyed_Devil

A Bun in the Oven by Missgarfield

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching (Love Like You’ll Never Be Hurt) by youcantseeus

Daylight by Abagail_Snow 

Disapprobation by MegaAuLover

Electric Echoes by aivi_rose 

Even Days by loungemermaid

Hope Is Persevering by goldenslumber

I Want To Have It All With You by MTK4FUN

I, and Love, and You by oh_so_loverly 

The Other Side of the War by LilyMaid

Peeta's Proposal by sillymarigolds

roses love sunshine, violets love dew by adsofraser

A Song of Found Souls by Mollywog 

The Storehouse by AlwaysEverlark 

The Things We Love Most Complete Us by geekymoviemom

SUMMER 2024

Theme/Prompt: Districts Apart🔥 

Acts of Goodness by Mollywog 

Apart And Together by Fantasy_nerd

be still, my foolish heart by cafeinama 

the districts apart program by fkatwirls

Every night, baby, that's where I go by searowss 

Go, Write Me a Letter by thesunpersists 

A Home on the Shore by thesweetnessofspring 

Not So Fresh Starts. by albinokittens300

where the heart can bloom by dhpanya10

WINTER 2024

Theme / Prompt: Married Before/During/After Catching Fire 🔥

As Real As Real Can Be by albinokittens300

Daydreams and Dandelions by Mollywog 

A few seasons by Reflections57

She Moved Through the Fair by adsofraser

something real. by thesmileykate 

Tell Me A Story by MTK4FUN

these final hours by thesweetnessofspring 

Together (in longing and dread) by oh_so_loverly 

Wild Flowers by LilyMaid

I commissioned this drawing (art by @laurabarcali ) one year ago, but I have needed a long time to post the first 2 chapters of “The Undoing”. This moment is from chapter 2.

Finally I am able to post it and share it with everyone 😍

I hope you are better! ! I was so happy when I saw you posting again 😘

Justin Davis in every episode | 1.01 - Now Entering Sun Valley 

I knew this Everlark rooftop moment had a “Spinning Out” translation