If anyone is willing to accept a prompt, I submit:
Katniss and Peeta are reunited in Mockingjay and Peeta wasn’t hijacked. However, he’s still under the same impression he was in Catching Fire that Katniss chose Gale and is with him, so he doesn’t kiss her or make any romantic moves. Katniss is confused blah blah, miscommunication blah blah, HEA.
I had been writing a fic for this for litteral hours only to find out I DIDN'T SAVE IT and now it is gone and I'm going to cry
Authors note: Hello so I finished the fic (I saw the prompt again and the brain rot took over) hopefully it's good. This is the first fic I've ever finished and also the first fic I've ever posted on my tumblr so please be nice.
Also if you enjoy the fic please reblog and like
Not beta read
Word count: 1,681
Hurt/Comfort (like 10% hurt 90% comfort)
Fuled by my anxiety from being pent up in that ward worrying for so long I storm through the medical wing. Doctors are shouting and the chaos of the noise makes me want to scream, but I persist holding Finnicks hand as we drag eachother through the mess of movement and chaos. I dodge the majority of people easily and I'm thankful for my quick feet since Finnick seems to be having a rough time getting through the crowds. But even with the blur of activity we make quick work through the ward not stopping until we see someone we know.
Gale is sitting on a cold looking metal table and has a gash along his arm. I want to apologise to him (or scold him) for going on a suicide mission of my creation and I am just about to go to him when I hear another voice I recognise.
"FINNICK!"
I jolt at the noise, and for a split second I am back in the arena listening to my loved ones scream for help through the mutated voice boxes of the jaberjays. I force myself out of it though, I can't fall apart now not when Peeta is so close to my grasp. I have to admit though the Capitol got the jaberjays to scream earily similar to Annie's real voice and despite knowing none of it could have been real I feel my stomach turn in the memory.
"ANNIE!"
Finnick flings himself towards her and it's like the whole world stops around them and nothing else matters. They crash together in a mess of sobbing and laughter and love
No one could ever doubt their love. I think a stab of weird jealousy pulsing through me; then I curse at myself for being anything but overjoyed at their reunion. I mean of course I'm overjoyed for them, I have never seen Finnick so elated but for some reason it sends another pang of longing through me and before I even realise what I'm doing I am sprinting past Gale to my Peeta.
When did he become my Peeta?
I make a mental note to ask myself that later in the privacy of my room away from the prying eyes of Coins lapdogs (even when they aren't around me I still feel like somewhere they are listening in for any emotions they can exploit in my promos). But for now, I have to see him. For the first time since Hamitch told me about the mission, I allow myself to imagine what our reunion would look like. I imagine the mess of hugs and kisses and being cluched in his warm embrace. I think back to our nights on the train my head tucked into the crook of his broad safe shoulders keeping the worst of terrors at bay. I remember all the nights I spent here clutching his pearl willing it to manifest him in its place. I think of what I will say to him.
Oh god what will I say to him?
How do I even begin to explain how much I've missed him; how every part of me ached in grief at his loss; how do I communicate that. Peeta has always been better with words so I can only hope that my actions can convey it all.
A firm hand on my shoulder reminds me where I am, Hamitch's grip is steady but his eyes have a weird sort of franticness which is hard to describe. I stare at him for a beat longer and I begin to truly understand how much Hamitch truly cares for us. We are his family as much as he is ours. He mumbles something about getting the doctors and cameras to leave the both of us alone during first meeting whilst gesturing to a silvery grey door to my left and I just can't wait any longer. I swing open the door.
And there bloody but breathing is Peeta, bruised, battered, beautiful Peeta. His eyes watered - they were big like a dear just before it's about to run. His breath shook as he spoke,
"Katniss... a-are you... is this... are you safe?"
Something between a sob and a squeak escapes me and I throw myself at him. He clutches me so tight that if I wasn't already broken from our time apart I think I would have shattered into a million peices of broken rubble. Not that I'm complaining. I'm clinging to him like a peice of driftwood in the middle of the ocean when Peeta starts to apologise - he shouldn't be - but he does mumbling about how he shouldn't have left me alone in the arena ways, he could've stayed with me, things he could've done differently. I shut him up with a kiss hoping he will feel what I can't bring myself to say.
That there was nothing we could do, that we were just trapped an a bad situation and that there was no way we could have known. In truth his thoughts mirror mine and if I tried to reassure him it would feel empty and hypocritical.
He almost pulls back in surprise but leans into the kiss nonetheless, it feels so impossibility nice like I'm finally thawing after months of the harsh winter; like the bloom of the first bud in spring. But as we kiss I can't help but feel something is different - it's not that any part of the kiss is different no Peeta's kiss is just hunger inducing as the last time on the beach but it feels almost imperceptibly different. And as we go up for air I see Peeta's face look at me; it's a mix of confusion laced with grief and something akin to acceptance. What, I wonder what I did wrong, why is he looking at me like that, why does he look so sad.
My thoughts spiral around my head making it start to hurt as my anxiety for him builds. I try so hard to find something to say that will ease his mind and come up blank, I settle for just asking if he's doing okay and I cringe at how silly that sounds given his state but I persist looking him in the eyes as I do. His eyebrows crinkle almost imperceptibly like he was trying to hide his reaction from some ghostly onlookers and pulls me closer to his chest. His calloused hands gently bring my face next to his. His chipped fingernails matted with blood.
For reasons I cannot fathom right now, my mind is brought back to our first arena and my time washing him by the lake washing away the mud and debris hoping I made to him before the worst of the infection had set in - before I knew. I have the urge to wash him again now; wash away the blood; wash away the hardship he's endured; wash away all of the horrible things Snow did to him. I was so nervous back then, so easily flustered, my world was so small, I was so unaware of my love for Peeta. So unaware of the damage that would cause. It feels like a lifetime ago; I wonder what that Katniss would think of me now ...
Peeta leans his face next to mine like he is going to plant one of his fairytale kisses on my neck. I lean closer unconsciously and flush at the implications. But he doesn't kiss me instead he whispers so low that I have to focus hard to catch it:
"Where are the cameras?"
When I realise what he said it hits me like a ton of bricks. What? He thinks there are cameras! Why would he think that?
Oh.
Oh no.
He doesn't know. He doesn't know how much I love him. He didn't know how much I loved him when he was in Snow clutches.
That's the thought that sends the tears spilling again, I honestly don't know when I stopped.
"Oh Peeta, no .. no. There are no cameras here I promise. I-I love you!"
I stare into him with all the sincerity I have. And he laughs - WHAT! It was a short chuckle laced with a bittersweet sort of resignation and once again I am left entirely baffled by this man whom I just laid out my entire heart to.
"I should've known,"
Peeta's eyes glaze over and drift of in glassy pools of thoughts which I can't even begin to swim though.
"This is a dream, isn't it."
He says it with such surety, I question reality for a moment.
"Katniss loves Gale," He smiles "I can't get in the way of that."
"No, Peeta, not in the way I love you. This is real I promise you,"
I kiss the hand resting on my face feeling the scared of his jagged hand on my lips, my tears mingling with the cracks in his skin.
"Feel this?" His vacant smile drops as his eyes focus on me he gives a small nod seemingly entranced by the touch of my skin on his. "This, this is real I promise."
One of my hands rubs comforting circles into his chest grounding him in my touch like he did everytime one of my nightmares felt like it was spilling into reality.
"My touch is real, this place is real, I'm real and I love you. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before, I'm sorry you didn't know that my love for you is so real I promise."
He croaks and a smile splits across his face,
"Really?"
I nod and he glows pulling me into a time stopping kiss and it feels like we are the only two people in the world as we melt into each other. He smells of copper and grime but still his warm sent of home cuts through it all still as intoxicating as ever even with months of him being stuck in that hell hole.
When we reluctantly part for air, Peeta is smiling so hard I see dimples forming which I hadn't noticed before, and once again I am struck with how pretty he is.
"I love you Katniss!"
I giggle like I'm little again, even though his love was never really a question. I want to see him like this forever smiling brighter than the sun. And so I promise myself:
Peeta will never doubt my love so long as the world keeps spinning.
Credit to @saradika-graphics for the gorgeous dividers
