Summary: When her boyfriend, Peeta, invites her to his best friend's wedding, Dr. Katniss Everdeen is thrilled to finally meet his family and visit the illustrious Capitol.
However, Katniss didn't realize she would be pulled into a world where money and status rule, scheming socialites will do anything to pull her and Peeta apart, and his family believes she is in no way his equal.
Will love survive these Capitol Games?
Very loosely based on a certain Crazy, Rich book and movie.
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Bring on the bachelors and the bachelorettes!
Part Three is now available on AO3 and FFn for your reading pleasure!
Thank you if you're still here. I've been MIA but your encouragement and comments really helped me get out of my rut!
“So, what?” Everdeen asks. “He’s really some kind of a rebel, now?”
Some kind of a rebel. “No,” I say, reflex, and both women shoot me a nearly identical incredulous expression. “I -- I’m . . .” I force myself to smile, though even I know that it’s too fucking plastic for them. “I think they call it a rebel sympathizer,” I say, like I’m correcting them. “That’s how Grandfather would describe it.”
Commander Paylor squints. “That’s not how your grandfather describes it, actually,” she says. She glances over at Everdeen. “Traitor,” she says, and I try not to look like my blood has run cold at the word. “That’s the word they prefer.”
Traitor. Oh. “Ah.” I glance down at my wrists. Really, the cuffs weren’t too tight, but I can see the indentations on my skin. Better than what I would have gotten if I were still home, I guess.
“There’s also treasonous,” she lists. “Enemy of the state. What else? Public menace, of course.”
“Of course,” I mumble.
“So let’s try that again,” Commander Paylor offers. “Everdeen. Ask me again.”
Everdeen looks beyond irritated. “He’s really some kind of a rebel, now?” she repeats, almost completely inflectionless. Sweet. They assigned me a soldier who doesn’t like to follow orders. No way that goes sideways.
“And now, you say,” Commander Paylor glances over at me, waiting for me to fill in the blank.
“Yes.” Like I have feeling in my extremities. “I am.” Paylor is still fixing me with a hard look, so I press harder. “I am some kind of a rebel.”
Katniss wins the 72nd Hunger Games at 14 years old with heavy sponsor support from a wealthy Capital family and slowly realizes that a path has been set before her. She is a piece in someone’s game and she needs to protect her new friends just as much as they need to protect her. Maybe even the good of the country?
Read Chapter 1 here
❤Thank you @javistg for your amazing Beta Reading and advice!
I’m running in the woods. These aren’t my woods back home but I still have my bow, so maybe I’m hunting somewhere new. Suddenly, I hear the screaming, and I realize I’m back in the arena.
No! I can’t be there again. I can’t do this. This is pure hell.
I hear someone coming. I wonder if it’s that gigantor from district 2. I shudder at the thought.
I start running. They’re chasing me. I wish I had an opportunity to shoot. They’re too close. Way too close for comfort.
I smell the strong aroma of roses and blood. It makes my stomach churn. Keep running, don’t get distracted!
Suddenly, an arm tightens around my waist and pulls me away from the danger. Then a smaller hand, no, maybe the same size as mine fits. I know I’m safe.
But then someone’s calling my name. No. Whispering? It sounds like Effie. I open my eyes and I am definitely not in the arena. I’m in a castle. I must be dreaming I’m a princess.
There’s Effie.
“Katniss! Get up and come with me this instant! I understand that you seem to have bonded with the twins,” she says with unending joy. She pauses. As if she’s not sure she believes her own words.
“But maybe it’s inappropriate to be sharing a bed…well…you are just children.. and it was getting late…” She sighs. Clearly conflicted.
“Let’s get going Katniss!” she whispers.
I start to get up, but Peeta’s arm is around my waist. It feels impossibly comforting. I am still holding Madge’s hand in mine.
I gently slink out of their grasps. They look so angelic. Sweet blond halos over my friends’ heads. I smile. I just called them my friends? I’ve never been good at friends.
Effie babbles on and on about how wonderful the ‘Mellark Twins’ are the whole way back. Well mannered, wealthy family… I start to nod off, it’s around 3am.
“Will I see them again, Effie?” I ask, but I’m asleep before I even hear her answer.
The next morning Haymitch and Effie are arguing. Both seem agitated. I don’t ask why as I eat breakfast.
“For heaven sakes! It’s even on the news!” Effie sounds exasperated.
She turns up the TV and there I am, arms linked with Peeta and Madge.
In big bold letters ‘Katniss Everdeen bonds with President Snow’s Grandchildren.’ The TV projects.
‘It hasn’t been confirmed, but reliable sources say that the kids sponsored the District 12 victor themselves with their allowance, how sweet!’ The voice on the TV gushes. I roll my eyes.
With their allowance? You’ve got to be kidding me. This TV schmuck just made it sound like my life was worth nothing more than the cost of a few chores around the house.
And what, I’m just their little play thing?
I think I’m going to be sick.
Peeta and Madge are in the most powerful family in Panem.
Fear is my first response.
Then I remember they SAVED my life. Gave me bread when I was starving. Medicine. A bow.
They were so happy to meet me. They wanted to protect me.
I’m too young to handle all these emotions. I finish off my breakfast, down my glass of water, and head back to bed. This is all too much.
Effie bangs on my door while I’m packing up to head home, my Victory Tour is over.
“I thought the train wasn’t for a few hours, Effie.”
She frowns. Then clears her throat.
“Often, very popular Victors 16 and older must stay in the Capitol for various, um, meetings with clientele. I’ve never… I don’t really know what to say, but you’re not going home today, Katniss. The Mellark twins have an invested interest in… well, they want to spend time with you!”
I’ve never seen Effie uncomfortable like this. I’m not sure what to say so I just nod.
I really wanted to go home. I miss Prim, Gale, the Hawthorne’s, my woods, even mom.
I don’t fit in the Capitol, and I am extremely intimidated by my friends with this new knowledge. Snow’s Grandchildren?! I hate that man and everything he stands for.
I. Can’t. Do. This.
I don’t want to cry, but I’m alone so I let a few fall.
Summary: As a graceless teenager, Katniss knew she never stood a chance amongst the girls who vied for the attention of heartthrob Peeta Mellark. When she was underfed and had plaited pigtails, her nights were spent working illegally to help support her family and her days were spent studying and begging. At the same time, Peeta would return from a private all boys school, full of food as he’d rest in one of the richest areas of Panem.
So how does Katniss find herself on a date, years later with one of the richest men in the nation?
One that’s now darker, dangerous and all too tempting. Could she break this magnate’s three dates only rule? Or is this rebel too stubborn to take on the challenge?
"You are a Snow. It's your duty to sire Presidents for Panem. She has already signed the non-disclosure agreement. All you have to do is retire for the night and let nature take its course."
Peeta nodded in resignation. There was really nothing left to say.
Going down the mansion hall, he stopped in front of his door, letting an anguished sigh escape him.
He should've never showed his admiration for her.
Now she was just as trapped as he was.
Opening the door, he found Katniss Everdeen, Victor of the 74th Hunger Games and his newly acquired wife, sitting on his bed.
Katniss wins the 72nd Hunger Games at 14 years old with heavy sponsor support from a wealthy Capital family and slowly realizes that a path has been set before her. She is a piece in someone’s game and she needs to protect her new friends just as much as they need to protect her. Maybe even the good of the country?
Thank you @javistg for being an amazing beta, and @peetabreadgirl for believing in me.
The silly adults dismiss Peeta and Madge’s behavior as a “childish tantrum” that is easy enough to appease. I soon realize they know how to play the game and they use their childlikehness as means to use their own power, seeming harmless. I’m constantly wondering if I can trust them, but they have proven trustworthy. In fact sometimes I wonder what I did to earn such loyalty that have toward me!
I am brought to the castle-er mansion and am seamlessly integrated in their lives within a day or two.
Peeta is so easy to talk to. My shyness is easily over come by Peeta’s humour and ability to carry a conversation. He’s a wrestler in school and he has his two male cousins over a lot to practice, and just do whatever capital boys do on school break. Despite all that, Peeta takes time to include me in whatever he’s doing. Apparently wrestling a winner of the Hunger Games has its appeal with Peeta and his friends as well. I’m not an easy opponent either. It’s surprisingly fun. I guess I expected Peeta to eventually treat me like an annoying sister. It’s quite the opposite. I feel cared for. Valued.
Madge has named me her best friend. I’ve never been good at being friends but Madge has unwavering confidence in me. She takes great delight in some of the capital lifestyle, taking me shopping, picking clothes for both of us. She dresses me and we prance around town like other capital teens. Photographers live it. Madge tells me to put big sunglasses on and look uninterested, but not annoyed. We’re playing the game for this vapid capital world, “on our own terms.” Madge insists.
Madge gave me a “Vintage” pin with a Mockingjay on it. A nod to my games, I think.
I tried to refuse. It’s way too generous.
“Please, Katniss, it belonged to someone special to us, my brother and I. I really want you to have it. It would mean so much. It also is statement.”
Madge looks at me very seriously. We’re only 14, how serious could this be?
She drags me into a bathroom stall at a shop across the street. Pulls me in for a hug and whispers in my ear.
“This pin means your choosing us. Your choosing Peeta. I can’t tell you more. It’s meant to look innocent, but it’s also a statement. This is important. Here, just, let me out it on.”
I just nod as Madge secured it to my shirt. Some things are beyond me. I’ll go along with it. It’s a beautiful pin.
It’s fascinating to me how well Peeta and Madge navigate around the vanity of the capital. Know what to be weary of and what to indulge in is an acquired skill that I never imagined would be of value.
I stay with Peeta and Madge for a month until their school break is over. I attend parties with them and make appearances. When we’re at their mansion we play games, and laugh, and tease. We’re able to be the kids that we are.
Effie has been teaching me more about manners. Madge dresses me in “the latest fashion.” I have an image to uphold as a victor and they are shaping it for me. I roll my eyes with disgust, but I go along with it. Sometimes I wonder if there’s another end game I’m unaware of.
When it’s time for me to take the train to District 12 I’m so excited to see my sister, but I’m surprised to feel a sadness in my parting ways.
I used to hate everything in the Capitol and anything associated with the lifestyle, but I have become attached to my new friends. The safety they provide is something that took time to even fathom. The freedom to be a kid, the childhood the harshness of the world took from me. I used to blame the Capitol, but I’m having a change of heart.
I haven’t begun to work out this conflicting emotions in my head when lingering hugs envelop me along with the kindest eyes and smiles.
Peeta then grabs my hand and leads me away from our group hug. “I need you to come back for a few different events. Effie will let you know. I don’t want you to feel like we’re pulling you away from your family, but we need you too. Is that okay?”
I nod.
Then, he leans in to whisper, “Listen, you need to be careful what you do and say back home. They’re always listening, and now you’re a victor, a public figure. Just, take care. Okay?”
Then Peeta leaves me with a kiss on my cheek.
Madge gives me another goodbye embrace.
When I arrive back home I didn’t realize there would be cameras. ‘Be polite, but ignore it,’ I think to myself. I’m overjoyed to be reunited with my sister, Gale, mom, and the Hawthornes.
Our life goes back to a new kind of normalcy. I hunt with Gale in the woods most mornings, I find ways to trick him into taking more of what we’ve hunted and gathered for his family. What I do bring in, I trade at the Hob offering below the value. I wish I could give my game away, but we don’t do that in the Seam. It feels good to have my place in our community again.
For various reasons, I have a tutor come to the village. I guess victors aren’t allowed to attend school.
Haymitch pulled some strings to find someone Capitol approved who would teach me. Thus, Wiress, a victor from 3, who works with the security technology for the government, comes every weekday. She is clearly a great teacher and, although her train of thought is sporadic, it makes the days amusing, kind of a game.
Just by being around Wiress, I learn all about the ins and outs of security in the Capitol, and what surveillance is where because she helped create it.
She touches briefly on what is where in a victor’s house in cryptic games and riddles.
I learn so much in bits and pieces and stated more matter of factly. The subject matter and her face expresses her real feelings. ‘We do what we can to appease Snow, while gaining our own upper hand in other ways.’
The hold the President has on technological advancements is alarming. The knowledge I have now has given me my own sort of power.
I briefly wonder if this victor being chosen as my tutor was intentional.
