So, here I am again with another weird Everlark Christmas-themed story. This time I decided to go way-waaay out of the box and try a Christmas/mystery/thriller. Yeah. I know. Should be fun lol. Very festive. Hope you like the first 2 chapters.

Chapter One: The Journalist and Slippery Slope 

The winding roads were icy and seemingly endless. Not another car was in sight on the lonely stretch of highway he was traveling.  His legs had lost feeling from continuous driving, and his fingers were starting to feel a bit numb too, but not from lack of movement. It was the seeping cold that seemed to pervade everything, despite the heater being turned up to full blast in his old Jeep Cherokee. Bing Crosby’s velvety voice was “Pa-rum, Pum, Pum, Pum,”ing along on the radio, and Peeta Mellark was humming along off-key in a desperate effort to stay awake. 

He had been driving for too long, he knew that, but he was very near reaching his destination. He was used to going to uncomfortable lengths to get the story he was after. He had done this before many times. Wisconsin for instance, he drove 9 hours in the rain to make it to Steven’s Point, and it had been hell on his back but he got there, and he got his story. They had to run second and third prints to keep up with the demand. And in Villa Ridge Missouri, he had to stake out an abandoned stretch of road for two days, but he got the story on that one too. 

This one would be just like all the rest. A little discomfort, a little lost sleep, but ultimately worth it in the long run once he printed a full expose about the mysterious murders that rocked a little no-name town fifty years ago. 

“I am a poor boy too…” His voice warbled tiredly as his eyes searched for the mile marker that would tell him where to turn, but there was a steady sleet building outside and it was getting harder and harder to see in the worsening weather. 

He was looking for number 113 and going by the map he was forced to use after he lost GPS service, it was bound to be around here somewhere. 

“I have no gift to bring, Pa-rum, Pum, Pum, Pum” He had already passed exit 18 aways back. That meant 113 was coming up any minute now. 

“That’s fit to give a—shit!” He caught sight of the reflective marker with the numbers 113 and tried to turn, half a second too late and much too sharp, but the tires couldn’t find purchase on the slick road on such short notice. 

The car started to hydroplane. 

“Fuck, FUCK!” Thinking quickly, he did what all the experts said was best, which was to turn into the spin. 

But he was going too fast. The row of snow covered trees that lined the highway like silent guardians blurred and drew closer in his vision.  

Suddenly he couldn’t remember what was so important that he drove out to the middle of nowhere a few days before Chrsitmas to find. Surely it wasn’t this. A quick and violent end on an icy road with no one who even knew where he was this time of night. 

Only his editor knew where he was headed and she probably wouldn’t report him missing for days. 

All of these thoughts flew into his mind and flew out just as quickly, as fast as the old jeep spun out of control and headed for the treeline. 

The last thing he saw was what looked like a woman. 

A woman in a faded ruffle dress, with long dark hair, standing on the side of the road. Almost close enough to touch. Time seemed to slow-and stop altogether as she held his gaze. She had a sad, forlorn look in her large brown eyes, that were almost pleading with him.  It looked like she was trying to say something, but he couldn’t make it out. It seemed important if the desperate look she was giving him was anything to go by, and he thought that look would be impressed upon him forever should he live past this terrible night. 

Then the car made another revolution, and she was taken out of his sight. 

 Quicker than a blink everything was back to the breakneck speed of reality as the car careened completely out of control. Then there was the sound of breaking glass, the impact of wood on metal, and the sharp flash of pain that radiated through every inch of him. 

And then all was darkness. 

Chapter 2: The Angel with the Permanant Frown 

The beep-beep-beep-beeeep of her minitor almost caused her to knock over her peppermint tea. Almost, but Katniss Everdeen caught the tipping cup at the last second and righted it. She unclipped the mini-monitor on her belt loop, nicknamed ‘minitor’ for short by all the local EMT’s and held it up as the device beeped its special four note tone again. It was the tone reserved for immediately life-threatening situations and it meant she didn’t have a minute to lose. 

She grabbed her truck keys off the top of her desk, tossed on her coat, didn’t bother with her hat or gloves, and threw open the door to the office of the local quick-mart. 

“Sae! I got a call!” She hollered as she rushed past the woman ringing up customers at the counter. 

“This time of night?” The grey haired older woman asked in surprise as Katniss flew by. 

“Rules are whoever gets the call has to head to the garage! Call Darius to cover my shift if you need extra security! Or Rory if need someone to help close up!” She shouted over her shoulder as she ran out, the chime of the bell ringing loudly behind her as the door snicked shut. 

Panem county was one of the smallest counties in the continental United States. The small townships of the Seam, Hob, and Panem Town proper, or just Town, as the locals called it barely drumed up a population of 4,000 residents combined. The only EMTs the county could afford to keep were volunteer ones, and they didn’t have regular shifts or wait at the station like their big-city counter parts. When someone called 911, dispatch paged everyone within a certain radius of the emergency. Special pre-recorded tones caused their minitors to beep loudly, alerting them to the emergency. 

They had different tones for ‘urgent response’, ‘potentially life-threatening’, and ‘immediately life-threatening’ situations. The call she received was the former. Luckily everyone at dispatch knew where to find her on a Tuesday night. 

She usually picked up a couple shifts a week working security down at old Sae’s quick-mart. The nights were long and tedious and she spent the majority of them watching the security cameras in the office on the look out for shop-lifters or teens trying to buy beer with fake IDs. Nothing serious, at least, nothing she couldn’t handle with a stern look and few sharp words. 

But this—this was a not not nothing. She hadn’t had a call this serious…maybe ever. 

Working at Sae’s put her within a mile of the garage so that meant she was going to be one of the first responders to make it there. She needed one other person with her before they could leave, as per the rules. More licsenced EMTs could show up and could ride along but they would have to get there before the ambulance took off. 

Her train of thought refocused as she pulled up to the old garage that housed the only ambulance and two working fire trucks that serviced the entire county. She pulled into the closest spot and hopped out down from her truck, ice crunching beneath her boots as she hurried into the garage. 

She was indeed the first one to arrive and she busied herself with pulling on her EMT uniform, getting the ambulance ready to go, making sure the tires were inflated, and chained properly for ice and snow, and turning on the engine and checking that the tank was full-which it was, thankfully. 

Just as she had finished taking a quick inventory of the medical supplies in the backseat she heard a voice call out from the entrance. 

“Always first to answer the call huh, Catnip?” The voice of her oldest and best friend, Gale Hawthorne rang out clearly amidst the rumble of the ambulance’s engine. Of course he would be the second one to the garage. 

“Early bird, and all that yada yada,” She replied as she shut the back doors and strode out to the front. Gale was already shrugging off his old coat and pulling on his EMT coveralls. 

“Hurry up will ya? Any longer and the stragglers will start to show and then we’ll have to let them ride with.” She shouted as she tossed the keyes to the bus over to him before she pulled open the passenger side and slid in. She didn’t really dislike the other EMTs but her and Gale had been friends and partners for years. They had a system and they knew each other like the backs of their own hands. She preferred working with him if she couldn’t work alone, and adding other EMTs just complicated things. 

Gale caught the keyes smoothly, like she knew he would, and he sent her cocky grin before he followed suit and slid into the driver’s seat. 

“Didn’t think you’d be up for letting me drive.” He commented as he strapped in and adjusted the mirror to fit his above average height.

“I wanna be first out when we get on the scene.” She said quickly as she pulled on her seatbelt and then turned on the ambulance radio. It was programmed to tune into the local police frequency and there was already some chatter going on about an accident out on the highway. 

“‘Course you do.” Gale said with a shake of his head. She ignored him in favor of listening to the information the dispatcher was relaying. 

Katniss’ grey eyes narrowed as she heard more details come through.

Jeep Grand Cherokee 1998 crashed out on the highway—around mile marker 113—One driver spotted inside the vehicle—unconscious

“Hurry your ass up!” She hissed at her partner when she heard the last descriptor. Gale shot her a look, but she didn’t even glance at him. She was staring ahead at the road that waited outside the garage as if she could will herself onto it faster. Without further prodding Gale flipped the lights and the ambulance siren on with a flick of his fingers and then they were off, practically peeling out of the garage in the next second. Under different circumstances she might have chewed him out for reckless driving but the roads were practically abandoned tonight and they needed to get on the scene fast. 

Besides, she couldn’t shake the antsy feeling she had since she’d gotten the call. There was something inside of her that was telling her that she just needed to get there as soon as possible. 

The drive out to the highway usually took fifteen minutes. Gale got them there in nine. 

The ambulance finally came to a stop just a few yards past the mile 113 marker. 

Up ahead she could make out the mangled up shape of a jeep that had gone head to head with an old spruce and lost. Unfortunately they weren’t in an ideal position to get the injured party inside the ambulance unless Gale repositioned the vehicle. 

“Hey you said you wanted to be first on the scene.” Gale replied with a shrug as he moved to undo his seatbelt. Katniss shook her head at him. 

“Stay put and back this thing up properly. Doors first!” She bit out tersely as she undid her belt and cracked open her door. She hopped down and shut the door closed on Gale’s complaints, ignoring him completely as she pulled her EMT pack higher on her shoulder and started to march forward. 

Sleet was still coming down heavily, and the road was slippery under her boots but her feet pulled her forward as quickly and surely as a lodestone is drawn to a magnet. 

Before she knew it she was right outside the driver side door, looking in on the man who had been behind the wheel. His face was turned toward her and she could distinguish his featured clearly. 

He was young, maybe in his late twenties, early thirties, he had ashy blond hair that fell in waves over his forehead. She could tell one other thing about him immediately by just looking—he was damn lucky. 

The airbag in his car had properly deployed, from her vantage point she could see the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was knocked unconscious, but not dead. The airbag and the seatbelt he was wearing had most likely saved his life, even though he drove an older model jeep and that sometimes meant that air bags didn’t always work like they should. The only visible injury she could see on him was a gash on his forehead. 

She needed to get him out of the car though, so she could assess the rest of him, check his torso and legs, but he looked kind big. Not as tall as Gale, but broad and stocky, with wide shoulders that were going to be a bitch to manover out of the mashed up wreck of his car if she guessed correctly. 

She tried tapping on his window to get his attention. It would be easier to move him if he was conscious, also he could unlock the doors instead of them having to shatter the window or the windshield and pull him out. But the man in the car didn’t stir. She tapped louder, as she noticed the car’s radio was amazingly still going and it was still playing music. 

Very familiar music. 

Earth stood hard as iron

Water like a stone

Snow had fallen

Snow on snow on snow

In the bleak midwinter

Long, long ago

The version playing was a little known and even less played solo sung by a local artist. It brought back the sounds and stories of her childhood. It brought back the knife edge of pain and loss. That beautiful, effortless voice that sailed over the notes and floated down to mesh with the music was a sound so steeped in memory that for a moment she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, she was so caught off guard. 

Then there was a pop and a whoosh, the sound of the air bag deflating, and with it the radio sputtered out and died. The disturbance finally seemed to arouse the unconscious driver. 

The bluest eyes she’d ever seen blinked open and locked on her. She stood there staring right back at him, caught up in the bizareness of the situation. 

Then her training kicked in. 

She knocked on the window again and said in her most stern but calm voice, “Sir, you’ve been in an car accident. I need you to unlock your door and roll down the window so I can help you.” 

The man stared at her, in confusion for a second, but then his left hand reached out to do as she had asked. The first thing he said to her when the window came down was not what she was expecting. 

Sneak Peek for The Designation Games Upcoming Chapter

Sure!! It's more like 8 sentences lol but here's the latest excerpt from the next chapter of Paper Hearts (chapters 1 and 2 can be read on Ao3.)

He was moderately tall and broad, but that wasn’t the first thing you noticed about him.  No, the first thing you noticed about Peeta Mellark was his smile, so open and friendly. So immediately inviting and warm. The second thing was his startlingly blue eyes that seemed to hold a million shades of cerulean and sapphire. A person could get lost trying to figure out all the different hues that glinted in the light and blended together. The second thing used to be his hair, light blond and wavy, curly when he was little and so soft looking he sometimes got mistaken for a girl. As he got older he wore it shorter and shorter. In middle school, it was almost a buzzcut. But now that they were in high school he was growing it out again it seemed.  She guessed his broad shoulders and sharp square-cut jaw had finally balanced out his features so he felt comfortable enough to wear it longer.

Thank you to the INCREDIBLE @mega-aulover for this prompt :) I hardly get the excuse to try and write fluff and I have to say I enjoyed the entire exercise!

She'd like to say that getting close to Peeta again was as easy as breathing, but that would be a lie.

It wasn't easy. It was difficult. Full of false starts and awkward interludes and enough unsaid words to fill a shelf of books. Katniss understood this because she knew there was no way to ever truly start over with Peeta Mellark, even if she truly and deeply wished she could erase the past year of him being captured, tortured, and everything that followed until the end of the war.

There were layers of history and trauma in between them, and Peeta wasn't always aware of the context or meaning that colored their interactions, but neither was he oblivious. He felt things and picked up on things and he could still read the room with startling precision.

He remembered odd snippets sometimes, and the major events of their history together but the day-to-day workings of their relationship (which was still stuck in some strange place between cautious allies on good days and distrustful antagonists on the bad ones) seemed to puzzle him at first when he came back if not downright confuse him.

He legitimately didn't understand why Gale hadn't come back to District 12 with her after she had been exiled.

They got into it one night after seeing his face pop up on the nightly newscast. He asked questions with an internal compulsion that she had come to recognize. It was an extension of his 'Real or Not Real' mechanism.

The coping strategy he defaulted to when something just didn't sit right in his mind. And she knew that it was finally time to tell him why Gale hadn't come home, why she hadn't wanted him to accompany her back, why it might be better if he just stayed away indefinitely. Or at least until the still razor-sharp pain she got inside her chest every time she thought of him lessened somewhat.

So she told him about that day outside the president's mansion. She told him about the bombs and about what Snow said in the rose garden. About Coin and her tests of loyalty at the victor's meeting. She told him about Gale and Beetee's bombs and how no one knew for sure how it had happened, who had given the authorization, or what design they had used.

But the implication hung heavy in the air as it had that day that Gale had come to bring her the final arrow to end the war.

"So that's why he's not here." That had been his only reply. Katniss had nodded, not looking at him, lost in her thoughts about how far they had all come from the people they had once been three years ago.

Peeta had taken her silence and had wadded through it, unafraid to confront the dark waters that threatened to drown out the moment of honesty between them.

"There are a hundred reasons why he's not here." Katniss finally replied looking at him and finding his blue eyes dark, sad, and full of that special kind of empathy that never felt inconsequential, or cheap. Even as lost in his own mind as he tended to get sometimes, Peeta's reactions to other people's pain were the same as they used to be. Pure and noble, and not stemming from any misguided sense of pity.

His hand reached over to cover hers, and he enfolded her own small hand into his grasp. Goosebumps spread from the place where his skin touched hers.

"I'm so sorry Katniss." He said, tone even and quiet. "We were all forced to do horrible things in the games, and in the war, but that really is something terrible to try and come back from. But maybe with time you and he could—"

"There's no coming back, Peeta." She said cutting him off.

"But, if you could find it in your heart to forgive me after I tried to kill you then surely you and Gale can work this out. You two have been through so much together."

Katniss nearly recoiled at not only his words but the earnestness with which he said them.

"Everyone's been through a lot these past two years. You included. I don't need to work out anything with Gale. He can stay right where he is for the foreseeable future."

"But you love him," Peeta said quietly, but his eyes were confused and his brows were pulled down and tight together.

She shook her head slowly at him, recognizing immediately the familiar tone of his voice. It usually preceded a barrage of questions in the real or not real vien.

"No, Peeta. I don't. Gale was never the one I loved. Not like that. "

"Well, my memory isn't the most reliable but from what I've pieced together about you two before the games, and then everything that came after, I was sure..." He trailed off and she reached out and hesitantly placed her hand over his. He looked down and frowned slightly, but in a way that illustrated his confusion.

"I wasn't. When I came home after the first arena all I wanted was for things to go back to the way they had been before, clear-cut and easy. But I couldn't go back. And trying to feel something for Gale beyond friendship was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. I just didn't know how to let go of that part of my life, where all I needed was my bow, the woods, my sister, and my best friend. I might have loved him once, the way you love someone who is like family to you. But I was never in love with him. I've finally learned the difference between real and not real when it comes to that. " She said it with such surety, such conviction, and the way she stared at him. It was like her gray eyes were trying to press some kind of message into him.

He looked startled by her words at first, then he blinked, and it was like he was seeing her clearly for the first time.

Well, maybe not for the first time. There had been many moments where the secret and mysterious nature of the inscrutable Katniss Everdeen was revealed to him in snapshots and quick glances. Like catching sight of something that arrests your eyes right before the door snaps shut.

But looking at Katniss at that moment Peeta knew the door wasn't going to close this time.

Taking my cues from @thelettersfromnoone thanks for the awesome title idea :)

Here's a sneak peek at the new chapter of The Designation Games:

If it isn’t too much, could I request a drabble! Maybe one with some more dirtytalking!Peeta in the post-mj universe? Maybe from the same vibe as the other drabble wherein K finds out how much she LOVES dirtytalking!Peeta? THANKS A BUNCH!! LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU ALWAYS!! ❤️

Ok, here goes nothing!

He ran a finger down the middle of her lips tracing around the outline of her mouth back and forth.

"Open up sweetheart," He requested, voice low and husky.

If it had been anyone else in the world she would have refused. But this was Peeta. He was the exception to all of her rules.

She slowly opened her mouth and flicked her tongue gently against the skin of the pad of his finger, gentle but eager. At her easy compliance, he pushed his finger in just a little ways and she latched on and started to suck.

"Fuck," He breathed out the word in a tortured growl, eyes heavy, lids lowered, his body swaying towards hers.

"You look stunning wearing just my shirt, my finger in your mouth, your cheeks all flushed and eyes wild." He told her, dipping his finger in deeper and pumping it in and out of her mouth in mimicry of the new version of lovemaking she had recently learned. It brought back the sensations of his cock, heavy and hard in her mouth, pulsing with need and tasting like some beautiful forbidden fruit, all salt and musk and Peeta. She couldn't wait to try it again soon and wondered if that's where this little encounter was going but then her thoughts scattered at the feeling of him tracing across her skin again.

His finger slipped out of her mouth, brushing against the corner of her mouth before he continued down the column of her throat, past her collarbone to just between her breasts, their sharp peaks hidden beneath the thin fabric of his shirt.

He lowered his head to the point of her straining nipple of sealed his mouth over it, hot and wet, sucking her through the tin material of his shirt. He looked up at her and gave her such a knowing look, full of intention and desire.

A moan tore out of her throat. The space between her thighs was hot and tight, slick and clenching in anticipation.

He didn't leave her waiting for too long. His hand snuck beneath the hem of his shirt and found her easily, fingers parting and sinking into her dripping heat like a hot knife through butter.

"Peeta," She gasped, full of his delicate ministrations, and then his tongue was in her mouth, thrusting in and out slowly, but deliberately in a way he knew drove her mad.

She opened her mouth to him eagerly, sliding her tongue against his, sucking on his bottom lip, and kissing him back with abandon.

He pulled back after he had kissed her senseless and lowered his mouth to whisper in her ear.

"I love the way you sound when I'm inside you. Your voice gets so high and sweet, so desperate. Do you know how sexy you sound? How much it makes me want to just push you against the nearest surface and fuck you? Good and hard? Or maybe you want it nice and slow? Do you want me to fuck you like a gentleman? I'd go slow, but deep. Nice and steady. Over and over. I'd have you begging. I wouldn't go faster until you were nearly sobbing for it."

His words made her clench down on his fingers hard and dragged a needy whine from her throat. She loved it when he talked like this. He always knew the right words to say to make her come unglued.

"Please," She cried out in that high, urgent voice that he liked so much.

"You know what you need to do sweetheart. What do you need to say?" He prompted while his fingers stroked inside of her perfectly, curling up to pet a deep sensitive spot inside of her and she whined again, so close.

"I--" She cut off, breathless, panting, twisting her hips only to have him still her motions in an iron grip, unrelenting and unwilling to let her cheat.

"Say it Katniss." He ordered.

"I need you--" She broke off again, losing her ability to speak coherently when his fingers were playing her like an instrument.

"To do what? Use your words, my love." He encouraged, voice rough and slightly strained.

"Fuck me. Make me come Peeta! Please!" She finally got the words out, her volume at a near shout.

"Of course darling, all you had to do was ask." He said quietly, a throaty chuckle escaping before he lowered his mouth to suck against her pulse point, his fingers speeding up their movements, the heel of his hand pressing harder against her, grinding, at just the right spot until she broke, and hurtled over the edge, with a breathless cry.

It was a quick and brilliant spark that lit up her veins, searing through her nerves and her skin like fire, taking over her until all she could feel was Peeta. His body pressed along her skin, his clean masculine scent invading her mouth, her lungs, his lips on her neck, his fingers wringing the pleasure out of her slowly, torturously, until there was nothing left for her to do but murmur his name in rapture over and over.

"There you go, just like that sweetheart." He said, hand smoothing over her hair and lips pressing against her temple sweetly.

"That was one. How many more do you think I can give you tonight before you beg to come on my cock?" He asked in a conversational tone.

She couldn't answer him. She was still incapable of speech, as the after-effects of the orgasm he had just given her wound itself down slowly.

"Don't worry love, we're just getting started." He said in a reassuring tone as he flexed his hips against her, grinding his rock-hard erection into the tender skin of her stomach.

yeah I've actually been retroactively editing it for clarity. And I've been working on the new chapter. I want to finish that little modern au sometime before this year ends!!