“What I’d really like to know is how this whole thing started anyway?” demanded Miss Trinket. Both girls remained silent. “Oh goodie, I get to guess. Hmm, someone stole the other’s boyfriend, perhaps?”
Both of them made faces.
“Sure, we’re teenage girls; that’s all it could possibly be about,” said Dawn under her breath.
“What was that, Miss Mellark?”
“Nothing,” mumbled Dawn.
“My, aren’t we sassy,” said Miss Trinket. In her chair, Autumn snorted.
“Something to say, Miss Everdeen?” Miss Trinket set her eyes on Autumn, who contritely looked down at her folded hands and shook her head.
“Well, then,” Miss Trinket turned her attention to the counselors, “what shall we do about these two lumps of coal?”
Coal. Seriously? Why did she keep referring to them as coal? It was pretty insulting.
“Counselor Mason,” said Miss Trinket, addressing her shorter, harsher counterpart. “You’re the expert on…punishment. What say you? What should we do about our two tempestuous teens?”
What would it be? Dawn wondered. She and Autumn were already on thin ice prior to this very public, horrific incident, and now she was letting Counselor Mason, of all people, decide their fate.
This was bad. Really bad.
All eyes were on Counselor Mason, aside from Dawn, who was staring at her shoes, and Autumn, who was staring at her hands. They glimpsed one another, then Counselor Mason out of the corner of their eyes.
Counselor Mason’s lips curled up into a malicious smile. “I say we let the punishment fit the crime.”
This one ran away from me and ended up longer than intended. Hope you enjoy.
Reminder of why I’m doing these here.
Original Dibs here and here.
This is dedicated to @jennagill, who loves these two almost as much as I do, and who gave me the idea for the ending. ILY.
xo, CC
Dibs!Everlark rang in the new year in each other’s arms, and they remained there for a better part of the next two days. Only, instead of the noise and crowd of the restaurant where they shared their first kiss (and declarations of love), they spent that time in Peeta’s bed, in his apartment above his family’s bakery.
They did everything in that bed. They made love (wasted no time there), ate every meal, made love some a lot more, and watched half a dozen cheesy romantic comedies.
Yes, they had a perfect weekend together, just the two of them.
And then…Peeta’s mother happened.
Ellis Mellark was beyond ecstatic when she heard, through the grapevine, that Peeta was attending Glimmer Callahan’s NYE party, thinking that her son was finally coming to his senses about his future. But when she heard that it wasn’t Glimmer, but Katniss kissing her son at the stroke of midnight, well…
She was not pleased.
The next few weeks and months proved to be difficult for the new couple. Peeta’s mother was relentless: setting up family meals and inviting Glimmer, or daughters of other well-to-do acquaintances. She even went so far as to send women directly to the bakery, where she knew Katniss would probably be as well. And when Peeta had finally had enough, and demanded that she stop this nonsense, she voiced threats of disowning him, firing him from the bakery, and evicting him out of the apartment.
Katniss was at a loss.
She contemplated, more than once, about ending it with Peeta – was she really worth losing his family, his job, and his home?
Then, one day, she got a text from him, asking to meet him at an unfamiliar address. The GPS took her to a quaint garden-style apartment complex, across the street from one of her favorite parks. She found the building, #7475, climbed the stairs to Unit #12, and knocked on the door.
When there was no answer, she checked the address on her phone one more time, shrugged, and turned the doorknob, discovering that the unit was unlocked. She walked in to a warm stream of sunlight coming in from the above skylight, and smiled when she saw Peeta standing in front of her, a set of papers in his hand. He showed her the document, and she noticed a familiar flash of yellow on the front: a post-it with an arrow and the words ‘sign here’, clearly written in Peeta’s handwriting.
Katniss took the papers – a lease – from his hand, studied it for a moment, and her breath hitched when she saw her name in type, as the apartment’s second lessee. “Peeta-”
“I choose you, Katniss. I choose us.”
He went on to explain that there were two sets of documents – one with just his name, and the one in her hands, with both of their names – and she would decide what she wanted to do. But, whatever her decision, he wanted to make his point clear…
That he chose her. He would always choose her.
Katniss looked up at him, grinned, and raised an eyebrow.
“Is there a washer and dryer in here?”
“You bet your ass there’s a washer and dryer in here.”
Months later, during an ordinary walk through the park, Peeta stopped to double-knot his shoelace, right by the lake. As Katniss waited, he slipped something into her hand, and she gasped.
A ring. With a yellow post-it rolled and tucked into it.
“I call dibs on you, Katniss Everdeen.”
Katniss looked down at him, her best friend, her Peeta, and inhaled slowly as she slid the post-it out of the ring.
She smiled when she saw his initials written on it: PM.
But she grinned a teary grin when she studied the ring, and noticed the engraving on the inside:
Dibs
No words were exchanged as Peeta stood, took the post-it from her hand and placed it on her shirt, right on top of her heart. He held her face in his hand, wiped the tear away from her cheek, and looked into her eyes, silently asking his question.
Dibs!Everlark is proving problematic, so I’ll start with these guys since you all seemed to love them so much =)
Reminder of why I’m doing these here.
Original Wiggle Room here.
Happily Ever After below the cut.
WiggleRoom!Everlark met up for their first date at same mall where Katniss worked, at the Italian restaurant that seemed to be popular. She would have preferred to leave the mall, but Peeta appeared anxious about going somewhere else, and Katniss didn’t want to upset him - buying shoes for his new foot was enough trauma for one day, she decided. They waited for their table at the bar, and reminisced about high school days, trading stories of people they still kept in touch with. During dinner, they told each other what they’d been up to the past few years, and once their dinner plates were cleared away, Peeta finally explained how he lost his leg - in a car accident. He was driving, and was hit by a drunk driver...and now, he couldn’t bring himself to get behind the wheel. He hadn’t driven a car in weeks.
Katniss listened sympathetically, and touched his hand at one point, earning a genuine Peeta Mellark smile. They agreed on a dessert to share, and she changed the subject, asking about the art program he just finished.
They finished dinner, and Peeta let Katniss drive him home.
And at his front door, Katniss let Peeta kiss her. A kiss he’d been waiting years for.
It was worth the wait.
***
The days and weeks went on, with these two seeing each other nearly every day. Katniss would take Peeta to empty parking lots to ease him back into driving...and to do *other* things.
Peeta eventually regained his confidence behind the wheel, all thanks to Katniss. She quit her job at the shoe store, and offered to help Peeta manage things at the new art studio he set up. They made the decision to live together, and Peeta laughed when he saw that Katniss owned twice as many pairs of sneakers that he did (employee discount!).
Months after living together, Peeta handed Katniss their senior yearbook, and it was flagged to a picture of them together. Back when they were just lab partners...when she wouldn’t let them be anything more than friends.
The words MARRY ME, LAB PARTNER were scribbled in his messy handwriting above the picture, and she couldn’t help the laugh that came out of her mouth before she answered ‘Yes’.
