Summary: Peeta finally gets a chance to talk with his childhood crush when she shows up at his door to sell some ingredients for his pastries.
for @isarnicole
a/n: A little something I wrote for @thgseasonofhope holiday gift exchange! Hope you enjoy! (Ps. this is my first - but hopefully not last - Everlark fic, so I'd love to know what you think! But please be gentle since English is not my first language!)
words: 3900+
Rated: T
Read on AO3
...
“Peeta!”
The 20-year-old baker pulled his attention away from the dough he had been preparing, turning his head towards the source of the voice. His dad was standing in the doorway, his face glistening with sweat because of the rush hour at the bakery.
“Yes, dad?”
“Someone’s coming to sell some herbs and other things we could use in our pastries. Could you please take care of it? My hands are a bit full right now,” the older man huffed, gesturing towards the busy cafe area.
“Sure. Not a problem.”
As Peeta had gotten older, his dad had gradually started giving him more responsibilities at the bakery, intending to leave it to him one day. Peeta’s older brothers weren’t interested in running the place, and Peeta knew he was a better baker than them anyway, thanks to excessive training he had done since he was a kid. Despite that, sometimes the voice of his mother nagged in his head, calling him useless, but the signs of confidence his father showed towards him helped him to ignore it.
He continued kneading the dough once his dad left, but about five minutes later there was a knock at the backdoor of the bakery.
“Just a minute!” Peeta yelled before quickly pulling his hands from the dough and rinsing them under the sink. In his rush he didn’t realize that he had a bit of flour all over his body, including his hair, from carrying a huge bag earlier.
The smile he was wearing on his face when he opened the door froze when he saw a short young woman with a sleek, black braid, olive skin and piercing, gray eyes standing right in front of him. The very same woman who had been a part of his dreams for longer than he could remember: Katniss Everdeen.
“H-hi!” he stuttered, just standing there dumbly as she was taking his floury frame in.
“Uh, hello?” Her greeting sounded almost like a question. When he didn’t move for a moment, she asked: “Can I come in? It’s kind of cold out here.”
That made Peeta finally snap out of his daze.
“Yeah, of course.” He backed up into the kitchen. “Sorry, I was just… surprised, I guess. When my dad told me I was going to have a business meeting with someone, I didn’t realize it was going to be you.”
Katniss gave him a strange look.
“Well, your dad seemed to think that my herbs and vegetables are what he’s looking for, so here I am.”
“Right. Um, listen… Could we start this over? I swear I’m not usually like this.” When Katniss gave him an expectant look, he extended his hand to her, like he would with any guest. “It’s good to see you, Katniss. What did you bring with you?”
Katniss’ mouth twitched ever so slightly at Peeta’s attempt to fix the situation, a sight that made Peeta happier than he thought was normal, but she did take his hand and gave it a firm, warm squeeze. After that she went straight into business mode and marched to the baking counter where she could display her products.
“Some dill, mint leaves, rosemary, basil, oregano, peppers, tomatoes, even a piece of the goat cheese made of the milk of Prim’s goat… Well, Lady’s the only goat we have so our cheese supply is limited right now but you could have whatever we can sell.”
Peeta looked in awe at the impressive collection of herbs and vegetables. The smell of the herbs was truly quite delicious and he could see that they were well taken care of. However, focusing on his actual task of buying Katniss’ products was a bit challenging when she was standing so close to him. Even with the herbs right in front of him he swore he could sense a whiff of pine trees coming from her hair.
“Would you like to taste the cheese?” Katniss asked, unwrapping the foil the cheese was kept in.
“Sure. I’ll get a knife so I can cut it.”
Peeta had been prepared to lie in case he wouldn't have liked the cheese, but turned out it really was worth all the praise he could give. It seemed that Katniss was far prouder for her sister’s achievements than her own, so she accepted the compliments he gave her sister happily. After that the talk moved to the herbs.
“The rosemary could go well with the cheese buns, and mint is good in some sweet things… Smoothie? Mousse? A chocolate cake?” He started listing ideas that came to his head as he tried to keep his focus on the things Katniss had brought. He didn’t miss the way Katniss’ eyes lit with interest when he mentioned the chocolate cake. “Hey, as controversial as this opinion may be, I’ve always liked mint chocolate. Maybe you should sell some of this to my brother; he runs a small chocolate factory nearby.”
“You think he’d buy it?” Katniss asked, a little shyly.
“Oh, absolutely! He’s always on the lookout for new products that make his business stand out. What’s better than combining the chocolate with fresh, local ingredients grown with love?”
“I do love chocolate as well,” Katniss admitted. “I guess you’re going to have to give me his contact info.”
Peeta wasn’t quite sure what got to him when he raised his eyebrow playfully and asked: “What about me? Would you like to have my contact info too?”
For a moment Katniss looked utterly confused.
“But I already know where this bakery is, and I already have its phone number…”
“That’s not quite what I meant…” Peeta shook his head, scratching the back of his head. “Um, never mind that. So, about the price. My dad left some suggestions here,” he dug out a paper where his father had written down what the usual price for specific herbs was, “But he said that he trusts us so if you think that these are too little, we can still change them…”
Katniss’ eyes moved rapidly as she took in the numbers, her frown deepening with each word.
“Peeta… I can’t accept this much. This is way more than what I get when I sell my herbs at the market.”
Peeta stopped her before she could resist even further. “See, that’s the thing, Katniss. Both my father and I agree that for all the hard work that you do on your own you deserve a hell of a lot more than what you get. I don’t think you even understand how much people appreciate local, freshly picked products these days. So, this is the least we can do to both support other local entrepreneurs and also boost our own image! Please, just accept the offer.”
Katniss bit her lip for a moment, her frown still visible. “Fine,” she said finally. “But you’ll have to let me do something in return for you.”
Peeta grinned mischievously, already feeling a lot more relaxed than in the beginning of this meeting. “Well, I would appreciate it if you remembered to mention to your customers that Mellark’s bakery makes the best cheese buns in the entire country.” He winked and Katniss’ cheeks got some extra color. “I’m just kidding. You don’t have to do that. Not saying that I would complain about free advertisements, but really, we would be happy to simply get to use your products.”
He stopped for a moment, gathering the nerve to say what he had been itching to say for a while. “Oh, and I might also be in need of a test taster. Can’t sell products without even knowing if they’re any good, right? My dad has probably never said a critical word in his life so he isn’t the right person for that job.”
Whatever Peeta had expected Katniss to answer to his request, it was not this: “I’ve eaten your cheese buns. And cinnamon rolls. And if those are any indication of what you can create, I highly doubt that you are capable of making anything that tastes bad.”
Did she really just compliment my baking? was all that Peeta could think of, and it took him a while to realize that she was probably expecting him to say something back. The small, shy smile on her face wasn’t really helping him to come up with anything coherent enough.
“I… You would be surprised to know how much trial and error really goes into making new recipes. You should have seen that one time when I thought it’d be a good idea to mix black pepper into a red velvet cake batter. What was worse, my brother accidentally used the peppery layer in a cake that had been ordered for a wedding. The bride wasn’t very happy about it!”
Now Katniss was actually laughing, and it softened the blow of him remembering that his mother’s reaction afterwards had been far from funny. Her voice was soft and bright and it made Peeta’s heart skip a beat.
“Poor thing,” Katniss chuckled. “That must have been quite a surprise.”
“Yep,” Peeta cringed at the memory. “We did luckily have an extra cake in the freezer that only needed to be decorated so they did get a better cake in the end, but the damage was already done. I learned my lesson, though: do not mix black pepper with anything sweet.”
Katniss rested her hand on Peeta’s shoulder for a moment, and that alone made him forget about all the unpleasant thoughts he had had earlier.
“How old were you when that happened?” she asked, more seriously, almost as if she had sensed the negative undertones the story had had despite his attempt to keep his appearance cheerful.
“I think maybe 12-13. I know it sounds young but I had already made plenty of cakes and done decorating at that point.” He shrugged.
“You decorated cookies too,” Katniss said, more of a statement than a question. Peeta wondered if she was thinking about the same thing he was, a memory from years ago.
“I did,” he nodded. Her eyes didn’t leave him for quite a while and it looked like she was about to say something, but then thought better of it.
“So, a test taster?'' She returned to the original topic. “And you think I’d be suitable for that job?”
“Absolutely. I need someone who isn’t afraid to say what they think, and I mean that in the best way possible. Your opinion does mean a lot to me, Katniss.” He gave her a reassuring smile, and she finally relented.
“Alright. Just tell me when you want me to be here.”
…
The next weekend Peeta was bouncing on his heels in the backroom of the bakery as he was waiting for 6 pm, the time Katniss was set to arrive. Since it was almost time for the holidays, he was dressed in a green sweater instead of his usual work attire, and he had also picked one of his nicer pairs of pants and even tried to tame his curly hair a bit beforehand. His brothers had given him a lot of shit for his not so subtle attempt at trying to impress his guest, but he knew that they were actually happy that he was finally taking the chance that he should have taken years ago. Happy enough that Rye had even helped Peeta with some last minute preparations and left the bakery with a wink, promising to stay out of his way. Peeta’s dad was also aware of the test tasting plans and he had only patted encouragingly on his son’s shoulder before closing the door behind him.
Finally, Peeta heard a quiet tap at the backdoor and he got there embarrassingly fast. Behind the door he found a heavily glad Katniss, who seemed to be wearing multiple sweaters under the big leather jacket he was used to seeing on her. Her shoulders were covered in a thin layer of snow from the snowfall outside and her cheeks had gotten some extra color from the cool winter air, so she managed to look even more adorable than usual in Peeta’s eyes as she was standing there in front of him.
“Hi,” she greeted him first.
“Hi. C’mon in. I’m glad you could make it.”
He moved to let Katniss into the bakery, and when she was removing her jacket, the first thing he noticed was that the sweater underneath it was soft orange.
“What? Is something wrong?” Katniss asked when he wouldn’t stop staring.
Peeta shook his head, his lips tugging upwards. “Nothing. I just like the color of your sweater. It reminds me of the sunset.”
Katniss looked down at her sweater and after that took in his outfit. “I guess it kind of does. And I like the green of your sweater. It makes me think of a forest.”
Peeta tried to not look too happy about his successful sweater choice. “Or the plants you grow.”
Once Katniss had left her outdoor clothes on the coat rack, he led her to the big dining table in the middle of the kitchen. “Um, here we have some things for you to taste. I haven't had time to test them myself, but I do promise you that none of them have black pepper in them.”
“Good to know,” Katniss smiled at him, and his heart did something weird again. “I would say that’s a great start.
“So, I thought you could first try the rosemary cheese buns. Sorry, I may have gone a bit overboard with these…” He gestured in the direction of the huge pile of pastries.
“They smell incredible!” Katniss exclaimed, her eyes wide, as she hovered over the freshly made cheese buns. She took one into her small hand and buried her nose into it for a second before taking a small bite. “Oh my god, Peeta! These…” she searched for the right words for a moment, “somehow these are even better than the regular cheese buns!”
Something melted in Peeta’s heart when he saw the contentment on Katniss’ face. “I guess I need to make a note to have cheese buns ready whenever you’re about to visit.” He grinned. “As the creator of the recipe it makes me really happy to hear that you like them”
“Like them? I think I could eat 10 of these at once and not regret it a single bit.” she mumbled while still eating, not even caring there were cheese bun grumps on her sweater. That just made her more endearing in Peeta’s eyes, somehow.
“Good thing you know someone who can make them, then,” he said, entirely incapable of keeping his face straight as he saw her enthusiasm.
They kept chatting while Katniss ate. At first the talk was about more mundane things, such as their old school days, new recipes Peeta still wanted to try and his plans to improve the bakery in the near future. But after Peeta had told Katniss he enjoyed working at the bakery because it allowed him to be creative, she shyly told Peeta about what had originally inspired her to start her own business. When she had been little, both her parents had enjoyed growing their own garden and they had encouraged their daughters to do the same. Her mother had been particularly interested in the medical properties of various herbs and she had been selling them before the accident that took her father’s life changed everything for the Everdeen family. But gardening brought Katniss memories of happier times and she had a natural love for all kinds of plants from being out in the woods so much as a kid, so continuing the work had felt like the right decision after finishing high school. Maybe one day she would manage to save enough money to continue her studies, but for now, she was happy the way she was.
“That makes sense,” Peeta commented. “My mother would have wanted me to become a doctor or a lawyer or something like that, but really, I was never that into studying – my favorite subjects were English and arts so those were the only things I could have imagined studying further. I think I knew from pretty early on this is what I wanted to do, and when my mom left a few years ago, that kind of sealed the deal for me… I had nothing stopping me from staying.”
“So you were happy your mom left?” Katniss asked hesitantly.
Peeta nodded. “I think you already have an idea about what kind of person she is. My dad stood her much longer than he should have. What she did… It was more verbal than physical abuse, constant reminders of things I couldn’t do… But sometimes she’d hit us too.”
Katniss’ gaze turned to the gingerbread cookies that were laid on a plate near Peeta. It seemed to be drawn to a very specific cookie: a round one, with a dandelion frosting
“I remember wondering why you had a red cheek once when we were eleven… Did she do that?” She asked, surprising Peeta by stepping closer to him and cradling his cheeks between her hands.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, unable to look into her eyes. He remembered that particular occasion Katniss was referring to all too well.
Instead of saying something like “I’m so sorry”, which was what Peeta usually got when people discovered the real reason for his mother leaving her family behind, Katniss took an entirely different approach. Her voice was quiet and her eyes shone with unshed tears when she said:
“You know… a very kind boy once left me dandelion cookies very similar to those right next to you… Although admittedly, the frosting was a little sloppier, but still, definitely recognizable. It happened during a time when I was this close to just giving up on everything. But that small act of kindness reminded me that there was hope. That no matter how dark things seemed, there was someone who cared. Even if the giver himself didn’t think of his deed as anything huge, it meant a world to me. One time I caught him by my locker, sneaking those cookies in from the small gap on the top, but he left before I had a chance to say anything. I always wished I could thank him for his kindness, but I never seemed to find the right words. But I guess this is as good an opportunity as any, so: thank you. Sincerely.”
“I… I’m glad I could help. But to be honest, I often felt like I should have done more, should have actually talked to you, but I always chickened out… Looks like our thoughts were pretty similar back then.”
“I guess so.” Katniss shrugged, her hand still lingering on his cheek.
“But I suppose it’s never too late to fix our past mistakes,” Peeta whispered.
There was a weird kind of tension in the air between them. Peeta wished he could close the gap between them and just kiss her, but that would certainly just freak her out, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. And so, mainly to stop himself from doing something he’d regret, he put some distance between them, cleared his throat and noted: “You haven’t tried the chocolate cake yet. I saved the best for last!”
“Oh?” Katniss cocked her eyebrow playfully. “Be careful of what you promise. You should know that after the cheese buns my expectations are impossibly high.”
Peeta snorted. “You really liked my buns, huh?” Katniss rolled her eyes at the double entendre. “Sorry, don’t mind me. Would you like something to drink with the cake? Tea? Hot chocolate? Juice?”
“Maybe some tea, please, since the cake already has chocolate in it.”
The pair cut small slices from the cake and Peeta poured them some tea before they sat down to eat. However, Katniss had barely tasted the piece when she started coughing and took a napkin to spit the rest of it out. “Peeta, what’s this?”
Peeta tasted his piece carefully and immediately understood what had happened.
“The frosting… tastes like garlic? Is that on purpose?” Katniss asked.
“I swear I didn’t know about this!” Peeta raised his hands in the air. “I think my lovely brother Rye just paid back for that time when he had to take the blame for the pepper cake. He knew you were coming here and he was helping me before you arrived…”
“What do I have to do with this?” Katniss questioned.
“Nothing,” Peeta rushed to answer before he had to explain to Katniss that his brothers knew about his longtime crush. “Ugh, I really am sorry. I promise I will bake you another cake in the near future and make sure no brothers are nearby to mix the wrong ingredients into it… That is, if you allow it.”
He must have looked miserable because Katniss’ scowl melted into a smile.
“I’ll allow it.”
And suddenly, both of them were laughing so hard that Katniss had to lean against Peeta’s shoulder, and they didn’t stop for several minutes.
“When I said it was going to taste even better than the cheese buns this definitely wasn’t what I had in my mind,” he finally said while swiping the tears of laughter from his cheeks.
“I bet you didn’t,” Katniss grinned, and the weight dropped from Peeta’s heart.
“Here,” he threw her a chocolate ball from a bag Rye had left behind and she caught it. “Something to take the garlic taste from your mouth. I tasted these myself before you arrived so I know they are fine.”
“These are really good,” Katniss commented after popping the chocolate into her mouth. “Tell Rye I might forgive him for the garlic trick if I get a bag of these for free.”
“I will let him know,” Peeta smirked.
The two of them kept eating the chocolate balls, occasionally throwing them into each other’s mouths. Just when Peeta was about to voice a question that had been bothering him the whole night, his dad entered the room. It was only then that Peeta realized how close he was still standing to Katniss.
“Peeta, I wouldn’t interrupt you if it wasn’t important but it seems there’s been some mix up with an order and I need you to check it quickly.”
“Alright,” Peeta sighed. “I’ll be back soon,” he told Katniss before following his dad out of the kitchen.
When he came back, he found Katniss loading their dishes into the dishwasher and humming a Christmas song quietly. When she noticed him, she seemed a bit startled, as if she had been caught doing something wrong, but when Peeta reassured her he had liked her humming, she soon calmed down.
“Actually…” He nervously shifted his weight from one foot to another as he debated if he should really say what he wanted to say next. “I remember you singing in front of our class when we were five. That was the first moment when I really noticed you. Your voice was the prettiest thing I had ever heard… and still is.”
Katniss was quiet for a moment. “Peeta… When you gave me those cookies, why did you do it?”
“Why do you think I did?”
He didn’t have a chance to say anything else when her lips were on his, causing his brain to malfunction entirely. Somehow he still managed to respond to the kiss, not quite able to believe that it was actually happening. The moment was over too soon for his liking, but the feeling of her soft lips still lingered on his when he asked:
“Do you think… there is a chance you would be willing to go out with me some time? And not just for test tasting?
“Yeah. I think I might,” she smiled shyly, and kissed him again.
Thank you so so much for such a lovely story!!! ❤️❤️❤️
