Peeta sighs as he drives past the familiar, warn out sigh, Welcome, You've Entered Panem. Pop 4 500, he managed to stay out of his small town for so long but things happen and now he's back. Peeta enjoyed his life in sunny California where he lived a good life, his job not his favourite but other than that he enjoyed living in California but not everything stays perfect forever and getting fired by defending himself affected the relationship he had with his girlfriend and she left him for the CEO of the company he worked for, turned out she was real cozy with him throughout their relationship.
His life wasn't complete and utter shit for too long because he got a call from his dad saying he's retiring and wants to give Peeta the family bakery, it took Peeta a while to decide because in order to take it over, he had to return home. He decided that it was better than having no job and accepted his father's offer, he immediately started looking for his own place, not wanting to spend time in his childhood home, knowing that the rooms that used to be bedrooms have all been turned into an office, a workout room (which is odd because his parents hardly use it) and then a spare bedroom for when his brother, Reuben, brings his two boys down to sleep at their parents house.
Pulling into the apartment garage lot, he finds a parking spot to put his car. He makes many trips to and from his car, carrying boxes and boxes up to his new empty apartment. He sets up his bed and thanked the lord that his GMC Terrain was spacious enough for his queen sized mattress, he worried that even with most of the seats down it wouldn't fit but it had just fitted. When he's finished with setting up his bed, he lets out a sigh
"Welcome home" he whispers to himself
+ + +
The moving guys come in a couple of days with the rest of his stuff and his apartment slowly fills up and he spends most of the day arranging everything and settling in. He walks over to his fridge but groans when he opens it, of course there's no food, all this time and he's resulted to take out... that was a mistake.
He looks at his shopping cart and scoffs to himself at how filled up it is already, so much for spending wisely. After getting a couple more things he pays for everything and loads it into his car, he closes the trunk with a sigh
"Peeta? Peeta Mellark?" He looks behind him to see Madge Undersee, a little boy about four by her side, a toddler girl sitting in the cart and a baby in a sling attached to her
"What's it been? Five years?" She chuckles, hugging him
"Last time I checked" he replied smiling and she laughs a little
"So what brings you back to Panem?" She asks
"Well, I'm taking over my dad's bakery, he's retiring" he replies
"That's great. It's good to see you back... after everything that happened" she sighs and he gives her a sad smile, he can't stop himself to what he asks her
"Do you know where Katniss lives?" He asks, knowing that the two are best friends
"Oh, Katniss? Um... she uh—"
"I'll be damned" Gale Hawthorne approaches with a girl identical to the little boy in his arms, they sure have a big family, Peeta thinks to himself
"Hi, Gale" he politely smiles and they all just stand there, making it incredibly awkward
"Well, I better get back to my place. It was nice seeing you all" he says, they exchange goodbyes and part ways, leaving Peeta thankful for getting out of the situation.
His first day at the bakery is busy, his dad telling him that business has been good for months now and so the busy job distract himself from what's really bothering him about being back. Dinner at his parents for the first time was like they were strangers and it took a lot of talking to each other until it was a comfortable night, they told Peeta how big his nephews Ryan and Challah are getting, how Reuben has found a new girlfriend after four years out of his divorce.
