Deep in the Meadow - Peeta Mellark X Reader

16. Home

He leads me to the kitchen, Worm following close behind. She knows whenever someone is in the kitchen now, she'll get a treat. It started off just as a way to get her to put on some extra weight, but now it's habit. We've all been conditioned that being in the kitchen means she gets a treat.

I sit on the counter in the corner, watching as he pulls out ingredients. For some of the better tasting ones, like chocolate, Peeta comes over occasionally, placing a small piece into my mouth, giving me a gentle kiss after, and then another piece.

"Have you seen Haymitch today?" Peeta asks after giving me another kiss.

"No." I admit, feeling slightly embarrassed. We had been trying to fix our bond, and he really was putting in effort, but it's all still so new, and I realize I can't be giving it the effort it deserves when I can barely keep myself from convincing myself that I died in the arena and that this was just how I'm coping with the afterlife.

It doesn't sound plausible. How could I cope if I'm dead? I don't know. It makes sense when I have the thought though, and Haymitch understands. He'd be hypocritical not to. He can't offer comfort other than a drink. He doesn't know how.

But he's trying.

"We can bring him some of these when they're done then." Peeta smiles softly.

His smile is just as kind as it was before, and aside from the prosthetic leg he sports now, looking at him while he's in a good mood, you'd never know what he went through.

But everyone does. Everyone watched what we went through. They saw everything. Nobody dares to bring it up though.

I nod to him, running a hand through his hair as he stands between my legs, the cookies in the oven already.

He works fast, but you can tell he puts effort into everything he does. Each action is thought out and calculated.

He was supportive of my decision to give money to Katniss's mom, as well as Gale's, and occasionally bakes for them as well. Both families look much more well fed than before, and I'm glad. Even if we were not exactly friends, I felt better knowing that they were better off now.

Peeta's family would come around sometimes, but they were not what I expected. How could his mom be so cruel to him, yet he has nothing but nice things to say? And he said that I was a kind soul?

"You look so pretty in the sunlight." Peeta smiles at me, and I playfully push him away.

"Stop." I groan, putting my face into my hands. I never had self image problems, but after everything that happened, I do. When I see myself, I don't see me. I see a girl I have never seen before.

"I mean it." He laughs, pulling my hands away from my face. I can't help the redness that forms, nor the smile that creeps onto my face at the sound of his laugh.

"You've got a shadow." I laugh, pointing behind him. His eyebrows furrow as he turns around, seeing Worm sitting behind him. She presses her front two paws on his good leg and meows, as if begging for something.

"Oh, of course. Worm, you also look gorgeous in the sunlight." Peeta giggles as she rubs the side of her body against his leg. He leans down to pet her, being met with her tongue licking his fingers for a moment before she walks away.

"I never liked cats, but I think I changed my mind." He smiles over at me.

"She has that effect." I smile.

"Why name her Worm though?"

I laugh, knowing this question would have come about eventually. "She was covered in worms when I found her. Real piece of work to nurse her back to health... She also had this weird thing with her legs and sometimes the way she would move reminded me of a worm."

Peeta nods at this, and the rest of our morning is filled with aimless conversation and laughter, which is always such a bittersweet feeling after. He finishes up baking, and we drop some off to Haymitch, hanging at his house for a little while before doing something I had been struggling to bring myself to do since we got home.

We visit my family's graves, which were all next to each other in a fine line. First, my dad, then my mom, then Sage. There is another blank space next to Sage, waiting for me to join them.

Instead of feeling flooded with the memories of the pain I had felt when they died, or the thought of his face as he died, Peeta's presence brings me peace. He comforts me as I talk to the graves, and in this moment, I know that it's real. That he really does love me. The baker's boy trusts me, and I trust him. He loves me for all my flaws, and I can't help but love him in return.

This pain will never end, and next year will be a reminder of everything we went through as we mentor the next two kids for the quarter quell, but at least we have each other. We have each other. The Capitol can't take that from us. This is just one victory we have against them, and they can't do anything about it. Not yet.