Alien

First and foremost. They are the most embarrassingly sappy couple to ever live like their kids definitely engage in a Lot of groaning at their corniness growing up but it’s their very specific brand of corny where peeta would make katniss do silly things like start dancing in the middle of the kitchen and making her giggle like a schoolgirl whereas sometimes the kids will be going off to katniss abt smth only to realize she’s just been staring at peeta across the room and she’s like. Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. No I was definitely listening (<— terrible awful liar and they all know it including her but she can’t admit that she still loves to admire him from afar after all these years)

But as they get older it becomes more subdued but no less sweet, you know? Older Peeta would go out on walks with their grandkids and see a little flower on the ground or smth and nearly break his damn back craning to pluck it so he could silently tuck it into Katniss’ hair when he gets home and remind her that she’s as beautiful as the day he met her (if not more beautiful!) and katniss, bless her heart, is still speechless every time (he does this like every week btw)

Katniss generally isn’t the type to worry too much about her appearance but like. Still she does consider it obv and wonders if peeta has any feelings about her growing older and not really making any attempt to maintain her youth bc to her, those lines and wrinkles represent the life she’s fought so hard for, and the life other people have given up their lives to give her (read: Boggs ;w;). Lucky for her, Peeta agrees with her and honestly probably feels even more strongly about it LOL he doesn’t paint Katniss much when they’re younger and he’s using art as a way to sort through his trauma and complex feelings, but as his life starts to settle and become more stable and happy, his art reflects that peace by becoming less disturbing and more sweet and calm. Likewise, Katniss goes from being a figure in the background of that peace who makes up part of the scenery of what his happier life looks like to kind of a centerpiece of it, especially as she grows older. One could say as her face ages and becomes more defined, she sort of becomes his muse <3 her face wears the story that his art tries to tell, and it is very much his story too.

With that, however, I will say… you can absolutely feel a bit of palpable desire from those portraits too hehe. Society loves to use older women’s bodies as horror, but Peeta thinks it’s the most beautiful and wonderful thing ever so inevitably sometimes the things he paints gets into more… risqué territory (but classy! Plus he knows katniss would never let him paint her nude so rip to him unfortunately). Things like her getting dressed in the morning and pulling on her hunting jacket over her back covered in scars, her with her hair down at the end of the night, her bare shoulders peeking out of the covers as she gives him the smile she reserves only for him… that kind of thing. The love and tenderness he has for her absolutely oozes out of it, but there are still some pieces she insists do not get shown to others out of embarrassment (even if she is secretly pleased and a bit confounded he was looking at her hard enough in those moments to remember all those details)

Peeta already goes into adulthood with a prominent disability, so inevitably he faces some challenges as his body ages and finally faces the brunt of all the damage that was done to it. Ofc katniss is pretty in tune with when he tries to hide his chronic pain behind a grimace or smth, and she all but dogs him to consistently do things like go to physical therapy, get a cane/mobility aid, and makes sure he feels as comfortable as possible. I think Peeta would have his own concerns about aging, especially related to feeling like a burden on her, but we know katniss has zero patience for that line of rhetoric, and after maybe a hundred kisses over the years he finally gets that katniss doesn’t particularly care about taking care of him, because she lets herself be taken care of by him too. In the same way it comes naturally to him, it would be absolutely unnatural for her to not help him whenever and wherever she can. Ofc she always brings up his inevitable loudness, but over time it becomes clear it’s a trait she’s actually fond of, bc it means that she knows he’s around somewhere in the house even if he’s not in front of her.

With that said, Katniss’ hearing also gets worse over time because the tech in her implant eventually degrades until it’s functionally useless. At that point, she just shrugs and says she’s gotten used to it and can still hunt even with half her hearing intact, so she decides not to replace it. As a result, as they get older, Katniss and Peeta become known as that old couple that always walks around town holding hands, with her always on the left, and him always on the right. She always has her good ear turned to him, and she couldn’t give a damn what the rest of the world has going on. Plus, if something did come at her from her left, she knows peeta would protect her. That allowing herself to just have this disability instead of living life in survival/paranoid mode reflects her trust in peeta, that she can let her guard down and know that she will be okay and safe, that nothing can harm her as long as he’s by her side <3

With that said, unfortunately… I absolutely think peeta will die first, lol. He’ll get pretty old first, though, and eventually his hands will shake too much to paint. He always says, though, that he’s just glad his vision never worsens so he can always see the faces of the people he loves, even if he can’t hold onto those memories the way he used to. I guess he probably will get sick at some point, sick to the point the doctors make it very clear he’s unlikely to recover, But in a way, this is kinder on Katniss because it means that she can slowly prepare herself for what is to come instead of being absolutely blindsided by the loss. In his last weeks, countless people whose lives have been touched and changed by peeta himself (not the revolution) come through and say their goodbyes, laughing and crying and reminiscing. Even though he’s sick and getting sicker, it’s not miserable or dreary—if anything, their house becomes incredibly lively, and everyone in town makes their way over at least once. It’s a little hard on Katniss, both having so many people around (haha) and knowing that he’s going to be gone… but at the same time, it also means that she gets to feel surrounded by the love and support of her community in the process, and know she isn’t going to be facing this loss alone, not the way she had to accept them for so long.

Idk if this is a weird take to bring in all of a sudden, but I took a course on palliative care/end of life ethics this semester, and I think Peeta would absolutely be the kind of person who would ask for medical euthanasia. Dark, I know, but hear me out: the moment he finds out that he is unlikely to recover from whatever sickness he has, he’s already come to terms with it and makes the request without question. Katniss was kind of expecting this, bc it’s a sentiment he’s been weighing for years at that point, essentially since the war ended. He doesn’t want a long or drawn out death, and he certainly doesn’t want to experience losing himself to senility or disease and becoming, well, someone he’s not. He fought so long and so hard to get his sense of self back, and this time, he’s determined to give a final “fuck you” to everything and everyone by going on his own terms. Katniss has a lot of complicated feelings on it, because she knows she would always take an extra day with Peeta over a day without him… but she also acknowledges that it only applies if it’s *her* peeta, the one she fell in love with, and not a version of him that’s been forced to stay on life support to assuage her fear of losing him. It’s difficult when it’s time to go through with it, but she also knows this is for the best, and prefers it to the alternative.

When peeta passes away, katniss and their closest family members sit by his side, her hand intwined in his. With whatever strength he has left, he turns to her and silently asks her with his eyes… and she begins to sing for him, something soft and gentle, lulling him to rest. He closes his eyes, a slight smile curling on his lips, and he lets the sound carry him away. Indeed, he dies exactly as himself, exactly where he wants to be, with the woman he loves, and the life he built. Those who are there to witness it can attest that it is perhaps the most beautiful end anyone could have asked for.

Once he’s passed, the kids/family are pretty surprised at how well katniss seems to take it. In the weeks leading up to it, she seems practically incapable of letting go of his hand, but once he’s gone… she just kisses his forehead and is able to let the funerary preparations go on with her head held high. At first, they worry that she might just be pretending or holding it in, and… she sort of is, just a little haha. She definitely cries the first night she has to lay in their bed without him, but when her great big family (knowing how she is and that she would do this) finds her, they all crawl in with her until there’s just no room to fit anyone else, and she knows things will be okay.

In addition, though, Katniss had also been preparing for this in her own way for a long time because she knew that, above all else, she never wanted to become as bereaved by the loss of her spouse as her mother was. That’s no shade to her, of course, but Katniss’ worst fear of being unreliable like that is part of what made her so worried about getting into any kind of relationship in the first place. Granted, she got a full life with Peeta, one which she enjoyed as much as she could, and then some. Thus, she goes into it reminding herself that there isn’t more she could have asked for, and that she isn’t allowed to stop living just because Peeta is gone. Ofc, it still hurts… but that mental strength is what stands out the most to the people in her life in the wake of his passing, and she balances out the grief she feels by essentially covering their house in peeta’s art. Not pictures of him, but in the things he created, the things he found beautiful (minus the paintings of her even though everyone tells her those are the best ones, lol). In that way, his loss feels less pronounced, she can touch them and remember every stroke of his brush, the way he spoke about those things as he was making them. Again, grief is still a challenge, but it’s a challenge she faces with much more grace than she or anyone else around her thought possible.

Not surprising, but Katniss firmly never falls in love again. I would say she sticks around for maybe 10-15 years tops after Peeta, but even then, she essentially loses any and all interest in pursuing romance. Peeta was her one true love, and that’s that. She simply feels no need for another. She puts fresh flowers on his grave every week or so, making sure it always has life and beauty around it. Sometimes, she might talk to his headstone a little, but that’s her secret <3

Speaking of speaking… katniss does a lot less of it as she gets older. Even when peeta was alive, her loss of hearing made her less talkative as a whole, and they just had that kind of old person psychic connection which comes with being with someone for such a long time. Thus, she sort of just… had no real need for words, and slowly got out of the habit. With peeta gone, she essentially just stops sharing those things with others. Of course, she’s still active, and lets her actions speak for her. She still cares for the people around her by standing by when her kids teach their grandkids hunting, silently pointing out little things even her kids don’t notice in the woods. She smiles tenderly and gives them all fond pets and small wooden trinkets she carves in her free time, just… not a lot of speaking. And they accept that that’s just who she is. Only when she goes to peeta does she occasionally share a few words, but the rest… she simply trusts that he knows, wherever he is. She’s mellowed out a lot, in that way. Still, though, she does sing. It’s a bit more shaky than it used to be, but whenever her voice is heard, it’s most often singing. Of course, it never loses that powerful quality, no matter how weak her voice becomes.

First and foremost. They are the most embarrassingly sappy couple to ever live like their kids definitely engage in a Lot of groaning at their corniness growing up but it’s their very specific brand of corny where peeta would make katniss do silly things like start dancing in the middle of the kitchen and making her giggle like a schoolgirl whereas sometimes the kids will be going off to katniss abt smth only to realize she’s just been staring at peeta across the room and she’s like. Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. No I was definitely listening (<— terrible awful liar and they all know it including her but she can’t admit that she still loves to admire him from afar after all these years)

But as they get older it becomes more subdued but no less sweet, you know? Older Peeta would go out on walks with their grandkids and see a little flower on the ground or smth and nearly break his damn back craning to pluck it so he could silently tuck it into Katniss’ hair when he gets home and remind her that she’s as beautiful as the day he met her (if not more beautiful!) and katniss, bless her heart, is still speechless every time (he does this like every week btw)

Katniss generally isn’t the type to worry too much about her appearance but like. Still she does consider it obv and wonders if peeta has any feelings about her growing older and not really making any attempt to maintain her youth bc to her, those lines and wrinkles represent the life she’s fought so hard for, and the life other people have given up their lives to give her (read: Boggs ;w;). Lucky for her, Peeta agrees with her and honestly probably feels even more strongly about it LOL he doesn’t paint Katniss much when they’re younger and he’s using art as a way to sort through his trauma and complex feelings, but as his life starts to settle and become more stable and happy, his art reflects that peace by becoming less disturbing and more sweet and calm. Likewise, Katniss goes from being a figure in the background of that peace who makes up part of the scenery of what his happier life looks like to kind of a centerpiece of it, especially as she grows older. One could say as her face ages and becomes more defined, she sort of becomes his muse <3 her face wears the story that his art tries to tell, and it is very much his story too.

With that, however, I will say… you can absolutely feel a bit of palpable desire from those portraits too hehe. Society loves to use older women’s bodies as horror, but Peeta thinks it’s the most beautiful and wonderful thing ever so inevitably sometimes the things he paints gets into more… risqué territory (but classy! Plus he knows katniss would never let him paint her nude so rip to him unfortunately). Things like her getting dressed in the morning and pulling on her hunting jacket over her back covered in scars, her with her hair down at the end of the night, her bare shoulders peeking out of the covers as she gives him the smile she reserves only for him… that kind of thing. The love and tenderness he has for her absolutely oozes out of it, but there are still some pieces she insists do not get shown to others out of embarrassment (even if she is secretly pleased and a bit confounded he was looking at her hard enough in those moments to remember all those details)

Peeta already goes into adulthood with a prominent disability, so inevitably he faces some challenges as his body ages and finally faces the brunt of all the damage that was done to it. Ofc katniss is pretty in tune with when he tries to hide his chronic pain behind a grimace or smth, and she all but dogs him to consistently do things like go to physical therapy, get a cane/mobility aid, and makes sure he feels as comfortable as possible. I think Peeta would have his own concerns about aging, especially related to feeling like a burden on her, but we know katniss has zero patience for that line of rhetoric, and after maybe a hundred kisses over the years he finally gets that katniss doesn’t particularly care about taking care of him, because she lets herself be taken care of by him too. In the same way it comes naturally to him, it would be absolutely unnatural for her to not help him whenever and wherever she can. Ofc she always brings up his inevitable loudness, but over time it becomes clear it’s a trait she’s actually fond of, bc it means that she knows he’s around somewhere in the house even if he’s not in front of her.

With that said, Katniss’ hearing also gets worse over time because the tech in her implant eventually degrades until it’s functionally useless. At that point, she just shrugs and says she’s gotten used to it and can still hunt even with half her hearing intact, so she decides not to replace it. As a result, as they get older, Katniss and Peeta become known as that old couple that always walks around town holding hands, with her always on the left, and him always on the right. She always has her good ear turned to him, and she couldn’t give a damn what the rest of the world has going on. Plus, if something did come at her from her left, she knows peeta would protect her. That allowing herself to just have this disability instead of living life in survival/paranoid mode reflects her trust in peeta, that she can let her guard down and know that she will be okay and safe, that nothing can harm her as long as he’s by her side <3

With that said, unfortunately… I absolutely think peeta will die first, lol. He’ll get pretty old first, though, and eventually his hands will shake too much to paint. He always says, though, that he’s just glad his vision never worsens so he can always see the faces of the people he loves, even if he can’t hold onto those memories the way he used to. I guess he probably will get sick at some point, sick to the point the doctors make it very clear he’s unlikely to recover, But in a way, this is kinder on Katniss because it means that she can slowly prepare herself for what is to come instead of being absolutely blindsided by the loss. In his last weeks, countless people whose lives have been touched and changed by peeta himself (not the revolution) come through and say their goodbyes, laughing and crying and reminiscing. Even though he’s sick and getting sicker, it’s not miserable or dreary—if anything, their house becomes incredibly lively, and everyone in town makes their way over at least once. It’s a little hard on Katniss, both having so many people around (haha) and knowing that he’s going to be gone… but at the same time, it also means that she gets to feel surrounded by the love and support of her community in the process, and know she isn’t going to be facing this loss alone, not the way she had to accept them for so long.

Idk if this is a weird take to bring in all of a sudden, but I took a course on palliative care/end of life ethics this semester, and I think Peeta would absolutely be the kind of person who would ask for medical euthanasia. Dark, I know, but hear me out: the moment he finds out that he is unlikely to recover from whatever sickness he has, he’s already come to terms with it and makes the request without question. Katniss was kind of expecting this, bc it’s a sentiment he’s been weighing for years at that point, essentially since the war ended. He doesn’t want a long or drawn out death, and he certainly doesn’t want to experience losing himself to senility or disease and becoming, well, someone he’s not. He fought so long and so hard to get his sense of self back, and this time, he’s determined to give a final “fuck you” to everything and everyone by going on his own terms. Katniss has a lot of complicated feelings on it, because she knows she would always take an extra day with Peeta over a day without him… but she also acknowledges that it only applies if it’s *her* peeta, the one she fell in love with, and not a version of him that’s been forced to stay on life support to assuage her fear of losing him. It’s difficult when it’s time to go through with it, but she also knows this is for the best, and prefers it to the alternative.

When peeta passes away, katniss and their closest family members sit by his side, her hand intwined in his. With whatever strength he has left, he turns to her and silently asks her with his eyes… and she begins to sing for him, something soft and gentle, lulling him to rest. He closes his eyes, a slight smile curling on his lips, and he lets the sound carry him away. Indeed, he dies exactly as himself, exactly where he wants to be, with the woman he loves, and the life he built. Those who are there to witness it can attest that it is perhaps the most beautiful end anyone could have asked for.

Once he’s passed, the kids/family are pretty surprised at how well katniss seems to take it. In the weeks leading up to it, she seems practically incapable of letting go of his hand, but once he’s gone… she just kisses his forehead and is able to let the funerary preparations go on with her head held high. At first, they worry that she might just be pretending or holding it in, and… she sort of is, just a little haha. She definitely cries the first night she has to lay in their bed without him, but when her great big family (knowing how she is and that she would do this) finds her, they all crawl in with her until there’s just no room to fit anyone else, and she knows things will be okay.

In addition, though, Katniss had also been preparing for this in her own way for a long time because she knew that, above all else, she never wanted to become as bereaved by the loss of her spouse as her mother was. That’s no shade to her, of course, but Katniss’ worst fear of being unreliable like that is part of what made her so worried about getting into any kind of relationship in the first place. Granted, she got a full life with Peeta, one which she enjoyed as much as she could, and then some. Thus, she goes into it reminding herself that there isn’t more she could have asked for, and that she isn’t allowed to stop living just because Peeta is gone. Ofc, it still hurts… but that mental strength is what stands out the most to the people in her life in the wake of his passing, and she balances out the grief she feels by essentially covering their house in peeta’s art. Not pictures of him, but in the things he created, the things he found beautiful (minus the paintings of her even though everyone tells her those are the best ones, lol). In that way, his loss feels less pronounced, she can touch them and remember every stroke of his brush, the way he spoke about those things as he was making them. Again, grief is still a challenge, but it’s a challenge she faces with much more grace than she or anyone else around her thought possible.

Not surprising, but Katniss firmly never falls in love again. I would say she sticks around for maybe 10-15 years tops after Peeta, but even then, she essentially loses any and all interest in pursuing romance. Peeta was her one true love, and that’s that. She simply feels no need for another. She puts fresh flowers on his grave every week or so, making sure it always has life and beauty around it. Sometimes, she might talk to his headstone a little, but that’s her secret <3

Speaking of speaking… katniss does a lot less of it as she gets older. Even when peeta was alive, her loss of hearing made her less talkative as a whole, and they just had that kind of old person psychic connection which comes with being with someone for such a long time. Thus, she sort of just… had no real need for words, and slowly got out of the habit. With peeta gone, she essentially just stops sharing those things with others. Of course, she’s still active, and lets her actions speak for her. She still cares for the people around her by standing by when her kids teach their grandkids hunting, silently pointing out little things even her kids don’t notice in the woods. She smiles tenderly and gives them all fond pets and small wooden trinkets she carves in her free time, just… not a lot of speaking. And they accept that that’s just who she is. Only when she goes to peeta does she occasionally share a few words, but the rest… she simply trusts that he knows, wherever he is. She’s mellowed out a lot, in that way. Still, though, she does sing. It’s a bit more shaky than it used to be, but whenever her voice is heard, it’s most often singing. Of course, it never loses that powerful quality, no matter how weak her voice becomes.

First and foremost. They are the most embarrassingly sappy couple to ever live like their kids definitely engage in a Lot of groaning at their corniness growing up but it’s their very specific brand of corny where peeta would make katniss do silly things like start dancing in the middle of the kitchen and making her giggle like a schoolgirl whereas sometimes the kids will be going off to katniss abt smth only to realize she’s just been staring at peeta across the room and she’s like. Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. No I was definitely listening (<— terrible awful liar and they all know it including her but she can’t admit that she still loves to admire him from afar after all these years)

But as they get older it becomes more subdued but no less sweet, you know? Older Peeta would go out on walks with their grandkids and see a little flower on the ground or smth and nearly break his damn back craning to pluck it so he could silently tuck it into Katniss’ hair when he gets home and remind her that she’s as beautiful as the day he met her (if not more beautiful!) and katniss, bless her heart, is still speechless every time (he does this like every week btw)

Katniss generally isn’t the type to worry too much about her appearance but like. Still she does consider it obv and wonders if peeta has any feelings about her growing older and not really making any attempt to maintain her youth bc to her, those lines and wrinkles represent the life she’s fought so hard for, and the life other people have given up their lives to give her (read: Boggs ;w;). Lucky for her, Peeta agrees with her and honestly probably feels even more strongly about it LOL he doesn’t paint Katniss much when they’re younger and he’s using art as a way to sort through his trauma and complex feelings, but as his life starts to settle and become more stable and happy, his art reflects that peace by becoming less disturbing and more sweet and calm. Likewise, Katniss goes from being a figure in the background of that peace who makes up part of the scenery of what his happier life looks like to kind of a centerpiece of it, especially as she grows older. One could say as her face ages and becomes more defined, she sort of becomes his muse <3 her face wears the story that his art tries to tell, and it is very much his story too.

With that, however, I will say… you can absolutely feel a bit of palpable desire from those portraits too hehe. Society loves to use older women’s bodies as horror, but Peeta thinks it’s the most beautiful and wonderful thing ever so inevitably sometimes the things he paints gets into more… risqué territory (but classy! Plus he knows katniss would never let him paint her nude so rip to him unfortunately). Things like her getting dressed in the morning and pulling on her hunting jacket over her back covered in scars, her with her hair down at the end of the night, her bare shoulders peeking out of the covers as she gives him the smile she reserves only for him… that kind of thing. The love and tenderness he has for her absolutely oozes out of it, but there are still some pieces she insists do not get shown to others out of embarrassment (even if she is secretly pleased and a bit confounded he was looking at her hard enough in those moments to remember all those details)

Peeta already goes into adulthood with a prominent disability, so inevitably he faces some challenges as his body ages and finally faces the brunt of all the damage that was done to it. Ofc katniss is pretty in tune with when he tries to hide his chronic pain behind a grimace or smth, and she all but dogs him to consistently do things like go to physical therapy, get a cane/mobility aid, and makes sure he feels as comfortable as possible. I think Peeta would have his own concerns about aging, especially related to feeling like a burden on her, but we know katniss has zero patience for that line of rhetoric, and after maybe a hundred kisses over the years he finally gets that katniss doesn’t particularly care about taking care of him, because she lets herself be taken care of by him too. In the same way it comes naturally to him, it would be absolutely unnatural for her to not help him whenever and wherever she can. Ofc she always brings up his inevitable loudness, but over time it becomes clear it’s a trait she’s actually fond of, bc it means that she knows he’s around somewhere in the house even if he’s not in front of her.

With that said, Katniss’ hearing also gets worse over time because the tech in her implant eventually degrades until it’s functionally useless. At that point, she just shrugs and says she’s gotten used to it and can still hunt even with half her hearing intact, so she decides not to replace it. As a result, as they get older, Katniss and Peeta become known as that old couple that always walks around town holding hands, with her always on the left, and him always on the right. She always has her good ear turned to him, and she couldn’t give a damn what the rest of the world has going on. Plus, if something did come at her from her left, she knows peeta would protect her. That allowing herself to just have this disability instead of living life in survival/paranoid mode reflects her trust in peeta, that she can let her guard down and know that she will be okay and safe, that nothing can harm her as long as he’s by her side <3

With that said, unfortunately… I absolutely think peeta will die first, lol. He’ll get pretty old first, though, and eventually his hands will shake too much to paint. He always says, though, that he’s just glad his vision never worsens so he can always see the faces of the people he loves, even if he can’t hold onto those memories the way he used to. I guess he probably will get sick at some point, sick to the point the doctors make it very clear he’s unlikely to recover, But in a way, this is kinder on Katniss because it means that she can slowly prepare herself for what is to come instead of being absolutely blindsided by the loss. In his last weeks, countless people whose lives have been touched and changed by peeta himself (not the revolution) come through and say their goodbyes, laughing and crying and reminiscing. Even though he’s sick and getting sicker, it’s not miserable or dreary—if anything, their house becomes incredibly lively, and everyone in town makes their way over at least once. It’s a little hard on Katniss, both having so many people around (haha) and knowing that he’s going to be gone… but at the same time, it also means that she gets to feel surrounded by the love and support of her community in the process, and know she isn’t going to be facing this loss alone, not the way she had to accept them for so long.

Idk if this is a weird take to bring in all of a sudden, but I took a course on palliative care/end of life ethics this semester, and I think Peeta would absolutely be the kind of person who would ask for medical euthanasia. Dark, I know, but hear me out: the moment he finds out that he is unlikely to recover from whatever sickness he has, he’s already come to terms with it and makes the request without question. Katniss was kind of expecting this, bc it’s a sentiment he’s been weighing for years at that point, essentially since the war ended. He doesn’t want a long or drawn out death, and he certainly doesn’t want to experience losing himself to senility or disease and becoming, well, someone he’s not. He fought so long and so hard to get his sense of self back, and this time, he’s determined to give a final “fuck you” to everything and everyone by going on his own terms. Katniss has a lot of complicated feelings on it, because she knows she would always take an extra day with Peeta over a day without him… but she also acknowledges that it only applies if it’s *her* peeta, the one she fell in love with, and not a version of him that’s been forced to stay on life support to assuage her fear of losing him. It’s difficult when it’s time to go through with it, but she also knows this is for the best, and prefers it to the alternative.

When peeta passes away, katniss and their closest family members sit by his side, her hand intwined in his. With whatever strength he has left, he turns to her and silently asks her with his eyes… and she begins to sing for him, something soft and gentle, lulling him to rest. He closes his eyes, a slight smile curling on his lips, and he lets the sound carry him away. Indeed, he dies exactly as himself, exactly where he wants to be, with the woman he loves, and the life he built. Those who are there to witness it can attest that it is perhaps the most beautiful end anyone could have asked for.

Once he’s passed, the kids/family are pretty surprised at how well katniss seems to take it. In the weeks leading up to it, she seems practically incapable of letting go of his hand, but once he’s gone… she just kisses his forehead and is able to let the funerary preparations go on with her head held high. At first, they worry that she might just be pretending or holding it in, and… she sort of is, just a little haha. She definitely cries the first night she has to lay in their bed without him, but when her great big family (knowing how she is and that she would do this) finds her, they all crawl in with her until there’s just no room to fit anyone else, and she knows things will be okay.

In addition, though, Katniss had also been preparing for this in her own way for a long time because she knew that, above all else, she never wanted to become as bereaved by the loss of her spouse as her mother was. That’s no shade to her, of course, but Katniss’ worst fear of being unreliable like that is part of what made her so worried about getting into any kind of relationship in the first place. Granted, she got a full life with Peeta, one which she enjoyed as much as she could, and then some. Thus, she goes into it reminding herself that there isn’t more she could have asked for, and that she isn’t allowed to stop living just because Peeta is gone. Ofc, it still hurts… but that mental strength is what stands out the most to the people in her life in the wake of his passing, and she balances out the grief she feels by essentially covering their house in peeta’s art. Not pictures of him, but in the things he created, the things he found beautiful (minus the paintings of her even though everyone tells her those are the best ones, lol). In that way, his loss feels less pronounced, she can touch them and remember every stroke of his brush, the way he spoke about those things as he was making them. Again, grief is still a challenge, but it’s a challenge she faces with much more grace than she or anyone else around her thought possible.

Not surprising, but Katniss firmly never falls in love again. I would say she sticks around for maybe 10-15 years tops after Peeta, but even then, she essentially loses any and all interest in pursuing romance. Peeta was her one true love, and that’s that. She simply feels no need for another. She puts fresh flowers on his grave every week or so, making sure it always has life and beauty around it. Sometimes, she might talk to his headstone a little, but that’s her secret <3

Speaking of speaking… katniss does a lot less of it as she gets older. Even when peeta was alive, her loss of hearing made her less talkative as a whole, and they just had that kind of old person psychic connection which comes with being with someone for such a long time. Thus, she sort of just… had no real need for words, and slowly got out of the habit. With peeta gone, she essentially just stops sharing those things with others. Of course, she’s still active, and lets her actions speak for her. She still cares for the people around her by standing by when her kids teach their grandkids hunting, silently pointing out little things even her kids don’t notice in the woods. She smiles tenderly and gives them all fond pets and small wooden trinkets she carves in her free time, just… not a lot of speaking. And they accept that that’s just who she is. Only when she goes to peeta does she occasionally share a few words, but the rest… she simply trusts that he knows, wherever he is. She’s mellowed out a lot, in that way. Still, though, she does sing. It’s a bit more shaky than it used to be, but whenever her voice is heard, it’s most often singing. Of course, it never loses that powerful quality, no matter how weak her voice becomes.

First and foremost. They are the most embarrassingly sappy couple to ever live like their kids definitely engage in a Lot of groaning at their corniness growing up but it’s their very specific brand of corny where peeta would make katniss do silly things like start dancing in the middle of the kitchen and making her giggle like a schoolgirl whereas sometimes the kids will be going off to katniss abt smth only to realize she’s just been staring at peeta across the room and she’s like. Huh? Oh, right. Sorry. No I was definitely listening (<— terrible awful liar and they all know it including her but she can’t admit that she still loves to admire him from afar after all these years)

But as they get older it becomes more subdued but no less sweet, you know? Older Peeta would go out on walks with their grandkids and see a little flower on the ground or smth and nearly break his damn back craning to pluck it so he could silently tuck it into Katniss’ hair when he gets home and remind her that she’s as beautiful as the day he met her (if not more beautiful!) and katniss, bless her heart, is still speechless every time (he does this like every week btw)

Katniss generally isn’t the type to worry too much about her appearance but like. Still she does consider it obv and wonders if peeta has any feelings about her growing older and not really making any attempt to maintain her youth bc to her, those lines and wrinkles represent the life she’s fought so hard for, and the life other people have given up their lives to give her (read: Boggs ;w;). Lucky for her, Peeta agrees with her and honestly probably feels even more strongly about it LOL he doesn’t paint Katniss much when they’re younger and he’s using art as a way to sort through his trauma and complex feelings, but as his life starts to settle and become more stable and happy, his art reflects that peace by becoming less disturbing and more sweet and calm. Likewise, Katniss goes from being a figure in the background of that peace who makes up part of the scenery of what his happier life looks like to kind of a centerpiece of it, especially as she grows older. One could say as her face ages and becomes more defined, she sort of becomes his muse <3 her face wears the story that his art tries to tell, and it is very much his story too.

With that, however, I will say… you can absolutely feel a bit of palpable desire from those portraits too hehe. Society loves to use older women’s bodies as horror, but Peeta thinks it’s the most beautiful and wonderful thing ever so inevitably sometimes the things he paints gets into more… risqué territory (but classy! Plus he knows katniss would never let him paint her nude so rip to him unfortunately). Things like her getting dressed in the morning and pulling on her hunting jacket over her back covered in scars, her with her hair down at the end of the night, her bare shoulders peeking out of the covers as she gives him the smile she reserves only for him… that kind of thing. The love and tenderness he has for her absolutely oozes out of it, but there are still some pieces she insists do not get shown to others out of embarrassment (even if she is secretly pleased and a bit confounded he was looking at her hard enough in those moments to remember all those details)

Peeta already goes into adulthood with a prominent disability, so inevitably he faces some challenges as his body ages and finally faces the brunt of all the damage that was done to it. Ofc katniss is pretty in tune with when he tries to hide his chronic pain behind a grimace or smth, and she all but dogs him to consistently do things like go to physical therapy, get a cane/mobility aid, and makes sure he feels as comfortable as possible. I think Peeta would have his own concerns about aging, especially related to feeling like a burden on her, but we know katniss has zero patience for that line of rhetoric, and after maybe a hundred kisses over the years he finally gets that katniss doesn’t particularly care about taking care of him, because she lets herself be taken care of by him too. In the same way it comes naturally to him, it would be absolutely unnatural for her to not help him whenever and wherever she can. Ofc she always brings up his inevitable loudness, but over time it becomes clear it’s a trait she’s actually fond of, bc it means that she knows he’s around somewhere in the house even if he’s not in front of her.

With that said, Katniss’ hearing also gets worse over time because the tech in her implant eventually degrades until it’s functionally useless. At that point, she just shrugs and says she’s gotten used to it and can still hunt even with half her hearing intact, so she decides not to replace it. As a result, as they get older, Katniss and Peeta become known as that old couple that always walks around town holding hands, with her always on the left, and him always on the right. She always has her good ear turned to him, and she couldn’t give a damn what the rest of the world has going on. Plus, if something did come at her from her left, she knows peeta would protect her. That allowing herself to just have this disability instead of living life in survival/paranoid mode reflects her trust in peeta, that she can let her guard down and know that she will be okay and safe, that nothing can harm her as long as he’s by her side <3

With that said, unfortunately… I absolutely think peeta will die first, lol. He’ll get pretty old first, though, and eventually his hands will shake too much to paint. He always says, though, that he’s just glad his vision never worsens so he can always see the faces of the people he loves, even if he can’t hold onto those memories the way he used to. I guess he probably will get sick at some point, sick to the point the doctors make it very clear he’s unlikely to recover, But in a way, this is kinder on Katniss because it means that she can slowly prepare herself for what is to come instead of being absolutely blindsided by the loss. In his last weeks, countless people whose lives have been touched and changed by peeta himself (not the revolution) come through and say their goodbyes, laughing and crying and reminiscing. Even though he’s sick and getting sicker, it’s not miserable or dreary—if anything, their house becomes incredibly lively, and everyone in town makes their way over at least once. It’s a little hard on Katniss, both having so many people around (haha) and knowing that he’s going to be gone… but at the same time, it also means that she gets to feel surrounded by the love and support of her community in the process, and know she isn’t going to be facing this loss alone, not the way she had to accept them for so long.

Idk if this is a weird take to bring in all of a sudden, but I took a course on palliative care/end of life ethics this semester, and I think Peeta would absolutely be the kind of person who would ask for medical euthanasia. Dark, I know, but hear me out: the moment he finds out that he is unlikely to recover from whatever sickness he has, he’s already come to terms with it and makes the request without question. Katniss was kind of expecting this, bc it’s a sentiment he’s been weighing for years at that point, essentially since the war ended. He doesn’t want a long or drawn out death, and he certainly doesn’t want to experience losing himself to senility or disease and becoming, well, someone he’s not. He fought so long and so hard to get his sense of self back, and this time, he’s determined to give a final “fuck you” to everything and everyone by going on his own terms. Katniss has a lot of complicated feelings on it, because she knows she would always take an extra day with Peeta over a day without him… but she also acknowledges that it only applies if it’s *her* peeta, the one she fell in love with, and not a version of him that’s been forced to stay on life support to assuage her fear of losing him. It’s difficult when it’s time to go through with it, but she also knows this is for the best, and prefers it to the alternative.

When peeta passes away, katniss and their closest family members sit by his side, her hand intwined in his. With whatever strength he has left, he turns to her and silently asks her with his eyes… and she begins to sing for him, something soft and gentle, lulling him to rest. He closes his eyes, a slight smile curling on his lips, and he lets the sound carry him away. Indeed, he dies exactly as himself, exactly where he wants to be, with the woman he loves, and the life he built. Those who are there to witness it can attest that it is perhaps the most beautiful end anyone could have asked for.

Once he’s passed, the kids/family are pretty surprised at how well katniss seems to take it. In the weeks leading up to it, she seems practically incapable of letting go of his hand, but once he’s gone… she just kisses his forehead and is able to let the funerary preparations go on with her head held high. At first, they worry that she might just be pretending or holding it in, and… she sort of is, just a little haha. She definitely cries the first night she has to lay in their bed without him, but when her great big family (knowing how she is and that she would do this) finds her, they all crawl in with her until there’s just no room to fit anyone else, and she knows things will be okay.

In addition, though, Katniss had also been preparing for this in her own way for a long time because she knew that, above all else, she never wanted to become as bereaved by the loss of her spouse as her mother was. That’s no shade to her, of course, but Katniss’ worst fear of being unreliable like that is part of what made her so worried about getting into any kind of relationship in the first place. Granted, she got a full life with Peeta, one which she enjoyed as much as she could, and then some. Thus, she goes into it reminding herself that there isn’t more she could have asked for, and that she isn’t allowed to stop living just because Peeta is gone. Ofc, it still hurts… but that mental strength is what stands out the most to the people in her life in the wake of his passing, and she balances out the grief she feels by essentially covering their house in peeta’s art. Not pictures of him, but in the things he created, the things he found beautiful (minus the paintings of her even though everyone tells her those are the best ones, lol). In that way, his loss feels less pronounced, she can touch them and remember every stroke of his brush, the way he spoke about those things as he was making them. Again, grief is still a challenge, but it’s a challenge she faces with much more grace than she or anyone else around her thought possible.

Not surprising, but Katniss firmly never falls in love again. I would say she sticks around for maybe 10-15 years tops after Peeta, but even then, she essentially loses any and all interest in pursuing romance. Peeta was her one true love, and that’s that. She simply feels no need for another. She puts fresh flowers on his grave every week or so, making sure it always has life and beauty around it. Sometimes, she might talk to his headstone a little, but that’s her secret <3

Speaking of speaking… katniss does a lot less of it as she gets older. Even when peeta was alive, her loss of hearing made her less talkative as a whole, and they just had that kind of old person psychic connection which comes with being with someone for such a long time. Thus, she sort of just… had no real need for words, and slowly got out of the habit. With peeta gone, she essentially just stops sharing those things with others. Of course, she’s still active, and lets her actions speak for her. She still cares for the people around her by standing by when her kids teach their grandkids hunting, silently pointing out little things even her kids don’t notice in the woods. She smiles tenderly and gives them all fond pets and small wooden trinkets she carves in her free time, just… not a lot of speaking. And they accept that that’s just who she is. Only when she goes to peeta does she occasionally share a few words, but the rest… she simply trusts that he knows, wherever he is. She’s mellowed out a lot, in that way. Still, though, she does sing. It’s a bit more shaky than it used to be, but whenever her voice is heard, it’s most often singing. Of course, it never loses that powerful quality, no matter how weak her voice becomes.