New Everlark Modern AU Fic Sneak Peak!
Hitting The Target By: SparklingStella & LemonLuvGirl87
Summary: “When you shoot, you’ve got to keep both eyes on what you want to hit.” Katniss tells him seriously. “Do you bring this kind of tenacious focus with you to all aspects of your life?” Peeta asks, hoping his wildly mounting attraction for her isn’t as obvious to her as it feels to him. “When the situation calls for it. I’m good at going after what I want. And I find my mark almost every time.” She tells him with such a straight face he would have believed they were still talking about archery if her smoldering grey eyes weren’t glued to his mouth.
When hot shot college archery rookie Katniss Everdeen makes it to the USA Archery Collegiate National Championships her first year on the team, the university’s newly appointed college sports reporter Peeta Mellark is sent on assignment to cover her and the archery team’s meteoric rise to fame. What he never intended was to get so invested in the subject of his article, or to get so infatuated with the girl herself.
~Snippet From Chapter One:
“Peeta! Where’s that article on the golf team’s latest tournament?” A frustrated feminine voice rings out through the university newspaper work room.
“Fuck me,” Peeta mutters tiredly under his breath while trying to simultaneously shrink down to inconspicuous levels so his editor, Johanna Mason, won’t hear him or see him. But even the hunching of his massive shoulders and lack of reply can't help him now. She knows he's here. She knows he's not done. He feels a sweat break out on the back of his neck as she approaches his work station. Knowing Johanna she’d take his curse words as an invitation for sex, not as an expression of utter unenthusiastic dread. And he doesnt want to have sex with Johanna. He doesn't like her that way. Actually, he's found himself almost resenting her in recent weeks. She's the reason he's got writer's block right now. He’s dreading having to finish this article. It's driving him nuts.
Peeta hates golf, (he told Johanna this when she gave him the assignment) and he’s been doing nothing but covering their university’s shitty golf tournaments for the last few weeks. And even though he’s seen enough mediocre college golf to last till the end of eternity, he can’t for the life of him finish this pathetic golf article that was due half an hour ago. The thing is just a boring, uninteresting, cold fish piece of shit. And he hates himself for writing it. He hates Johanna even more for assigning this piece to him. It's like she knows exactly which soul sucking assignments he desires least and saves them just for him.
“Mellark! Are you still stuck on the conclusion? Stop playing with your dick and finish the fucking article already! We’ve got a deadline to meet!” Johanna says when she finally reaches his desk and stands over his shoulder, only to find he’s stuck in the same spot he was an hour ago.
“I’m trying Johanna! But this--this story is just--”
“Just what asshole? Too hot for you to handle? It's a damn 600 word news piece, not a 60 minutes interview for god sakes!”
“It's BORING! And there’s no way to make it interesting! I’ve tried! Its just---garbage! Dry, utterly boring and sleep-inducing garbage!”
Johnna stands stock still for a minute. Peeta worries he may have gone overboard.
Then she starts shaking with silent laughter.
“Well, yeah duh! I mean it's college golf, not exactly riveting stuff. ” She says in between involuntary shoulder shakes.
“So you knew. You knew it was a crap assignment and you made me write it anyway! That’s just great Jo. That’s terrific. Why couldn’t you assign it to Beetee or Wireless or something? Didn’t you tell me when I joined the paper that I had the best ‘authentic writing voice’ you’d heard in years? And yet Marvel and Cato get to cover our basketball and football team every season! What am I doing here JO? How is this a good use of my skills?”
“Mellark, you’re talented. That’s exactly why I give you the tough assignments. You can dress up a pile of shit and make it look like a chocolate sundae. But, you’ve only been on the team for a year. You still have to pay your dues rookie. But, look, I’ll make you a deal. Finish this shit show of an article, and make it readable. If you can do that I’ll give you a better assignment this coming week. Not basketball or anything super big, because you know, baby steps, but I promise it will be a step up from the golf crap.”
“Fine Jo. But I’m holding you to your promise! Maybe I should make you sign a contract so you don't go back on your word,”
“Yeah, yeah, Mellark. No need to break out the ritual sacrifice knife to make me sign my soul away in blood. I'm a woman of my word. I'll deliver on my promise. But, you better wow me with this conclusion, or else it's back to the golf carts, pretentious khakis, and designer sunglasses for you.”
“It's going to be the best shit sundae you’ve ever had Jo. I promise.”
And it was. Peeta managed in the next 20 minutes to tweak and finish the article until it was actually an interesting and engaging college sports piece, and by the time the story had to go to print Joanna was smiling.
“So, I take it that smile means I’m going to get assigned something decent this coming week?”
“Well, since you actually pulled it off, I’d say so.” Johanna slams a piece of paper down on his desk. It contains a name, email address, and office phone number.
Haymitch Abernathy [email protected] 555-451-1213
“What’s this?”
“Contact info for your next assignment. Email this guy and set up a time to go and observe his team at practice. He’s the head coach for the university’s archery team. Word around campus is there’s a new freshman blowing all the competition out of the water. The team’s got a shot at nationals this year. I want you to do a full piece on her, and the team. You can interview the coach too. The higher ups want to make this feature article a two page spread.”
“Two pages?!”
“Yep. So don’t say I never did nothing for ya Mellark. Oh, and take your camera and get some candid shots. Apparently she’s hot. That’ll be good for the article too.”
Peeta laughs, only Johanna would so openly comment on sex appeal as a way to increase their readerbase.
“Ok, Jo. Sure thing. And thank you! You won’t regret it!”
“Yeah, yeah. Bring me back something spectacular and we’ll see if you deserve to be bumped up permanently to something more substantial after this.”
Peeta nodded, and smiled. He was hopeful, enthusiastic, and most of all really intrigued to find out more about his newest assignment. Maybe he can gain more than he imagined...Johanna did say SHE, the apparently female assignment, is hot. Most interesting...
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More Coming Soon!!! Story will be posted to AO3 as a collab between @sparklingdust4612 (SparklingStella on AO3) and @lemonluvgirl87