The Sunset Castle by thesweetnessofspring
Rated T
If it had not stormed on a certain March morning, Peeta Mellark's whole life would have been entirely different. Peeta Mellark, twenty-nine and unwanted, lives under the control of his family: dependent on his oldest brother for his livelihood, in the shadow of his handsome older brother, and bearing the insults and hands of his mother. But then he learns that he has at most one year to live and he refuses to spend it like he has for the past twenty-nine. He begins keeping company with the drunken district handyman, his sick ward, and the mysterious forest woman, Katniss Everdeen, while he lives out his sunset in all the colors he can find. Based on L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle
Read Chapter One | Read Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Autumn came, the blue hills turning fiery as the leaves changed colors. Peeta kept the hearth lit in the cabin and Katniss taught him about the roots, nuts, and mushrooms she gathered in the forest. Peeta began baking more, making whatever Katniss requested and experimenting with new flavor combinations and techniquesβsomething his family would have never allowed at the bakery.
Buttercup caught mice trying to come in as the weather cooled and showed his kills with pride to Peeta, whom he had deemed the cabin's caregiver. Katniss and Peeta went to town to stock up on food for the winter. With the snow, they could end up trapped out there in the cabin for weeks without a way to get to town.
One fine afternoon, Katniss and Peeta spread out a blanket and had a picnic. She taught him how to skip rocks on the lake and they played a game of cards together. Her head ended up on his lap and he played with her hair, the smooth strands slipping from his fingers like glass while they talked. Peeta looked up then to the dazzling dusk, with blue clouds hanging over the orange glow of the sun.
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***gif of luke grimes by @stannyramirez. snow gif from canva.
