I like to watch his hands as he works, making a blank page bloom with strokes of ink, adding touches of color to our previously black and yellowish book. His face takes on a special look when he concentrates. His usual easy expression is replaced by something more intense and removed that suggests an entire world locked away inside him. I've seen flashes of this before: in the arena, or when he speaks to a crowd, or that time he shoved the Peacekeepers' guns away from me in District 11. I don't know quite what to make of it. I also become a little fixated on his eyelashes, which ordinarily you don't notice much because they're so blond. But up close, in the sunlight slanting in from the window, they're a light golden color and so long I don't see how they keep from getting all tangled up when he blinks.
I'm very, very late, but I finially finished this piece I made in honour of @princesspufflesposts' birthday! Every conversation I have with you is incredibly interesting and insightful and I'm so happy to be able to call you my friend <3 Happy (late) Birthday!
Special thanks to @anotherunderpaidartist for helping me figure out their faces, reassuring me when I questioned my abilities, and for reminding me to flip the canvas!
He comes to a stop at the red light, the only one in town, still cycling through its usual routine despite it being 1am and there being no one else on the road. He takes the chance to look over at her, still staring. “You okay?”
Katniss’s eyebrows raise as she blinks languidly, “huh?” She’s drunk. With their friends from high school now legal and home for the holiday, they’d all gone out to The Hob for drinks the night before Thanksgiving.
“Is there something on my face? You’ve been looking at me weird all night.”
“No I haven't," his friend says peevishly.
He swipes at the side of his face, looking at his hand for signs of a stain or debris. Nothing. At least as far as he can see in the dim glow of the dash. The light changes and he narrows his eyes at her before turning back to the road.
“It’s just— I’ve never seen you with a beard before.”
“What?” Yes you have.”
‘“I think I’d remember,” she says, scowling.
“It’s no shave November. It’s a fundraising thing for cancer research. Lukka, Kotta, and I do it every year.” Well, every year since he could grow hair again after chemo. “You just weren’t paying attention,” he says teasingly, though there’s a kernel of hurt under the facade.
“No,” she punches his arm, a little harder than he thinks she intends. “You didn’t come back Freshman year, and I was out of town the past two. This is our first Thanksgiving home together since high school. Now who wasn’t paying attention?”
He throws a hand up in supplication, “okay, okay. You’re right, you’ve never seen me with a beard. So, what’s the verdict?”
“I like it.”
A small thrill sparks in his chest that is immediately dampened. He was fishing: what else was she supposed to say?
He can hear her readjust in her seat to look more fully at him. “I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to kiss you.”
Heat prickles up his neck. Just how drunk is she? He huffs a laugh, studiously keeping his eyes on the road. “You’ve never kissed someone with a beard before?”
“Nooooo, but I’ve never kissed you with a beard before.”
A fascinating distinction.
He tries not to let his mind linger on the other bearded and unbearded men she’s kissed that aren’t him. He throws a glance to the back seat where her college roommate who came home with her this year loudly saws logs. He likes Johanna well enough, but she’s a bit of a wildcard and he won’t discount her effect over his friend.
“You’ve never kissed me without a beard before either.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” she grumbles under her breath.
He hazards a quick glance to her then back to the road. This argument would be much more compelling if she weren’t hammered right now, he decides.
“I’m not that drunk.” She huffs as if reading his mind, finally slumping into her seat facing forward. They drive in silence for the rest of the ride before she speaks again.
“Can I at least touch it?”
“My beard?” He says. She’s lucky he’s just put the car into park in front of her house or who knows what he might have done. He turns to fully look at her and to his surprise, she doesn’t shy away from him.
Her hand extends and delicate fingers trail down his bearded cheek. His breath catches as her thumb caresses his bottom lip. She’s staring at him with a level of intense concentration— something akin to hunger in her eyes.
She nods to herself. “Thank you,” she says, before hopping out of the car and waking her friend in the back, leaving Peeta to wonder what the hell just happened.
everlark headcanon… Katniss is a blanket hog when she’s asleep and unaware of it. Peeta doesn’t tell her because he doesn’t want her to get self conscious, but she gets very suspicious/offended when he tries to get his own blanket and won’t explain why
It’s like sharing a bed with a pet. They somehow manage to steal all the blankets!
They would be better off getting a separate blanket each (she can still rest her head on his chest!!), but I can still see her trying to take his because it smells like him 😍
A New Source: My take on Katniss and Peeta's first dalliance from @princesspufflesposts Off the Record for her birthday! Please accept my humble attempt to capture the genius and magic of this world you've created!
"Right before they hooked up for the first time — at the end of a welcome banquet Peeta hosted with the press corps, only three weeks into the job — he told her she had no idea about the effect she can have.
She had zero clue what he meant. But whatever that effect was, it had him chatting her up over half the night, sending sparks firing through her veins until they ignited into an uncontrollable, addictive blaze. Katniss barely made it through the end of the banquet before she pulled him into the storage closet upstairs and let him rip her dress off." - Ch. 6 of Off the Record
Puffles, it has been such a joy to get to know you this year! I can't wait for all the next will bring us! Thank you for sharing your incredible writing and thoughts with the Everlark Fandom! And thank you for letting me freak out in a beta doc on the regular! Happy Birthday friend!!
idk if this is unpopular and this comes up in one of my fics but I don’t subscribe to the idea that Johanna was doing an act from the beginning with her tears during her Games and pretending the entire time, and I also don’t think that she was actually that distraught the entire time, either. I think that when she got reaped, she was genuinely scared and upset and burst into tears, because she’s a kid and that’s a natural reaction. later, either because her mentor got to know her better post Reaping or her reputation somehow preceded her so they knew what she could pull off, they decided to use that initial display of emotion as a strategy. but I don’t think she planned it from the beginning and I also don’t think she was never able to collect herself.
sort of a sidebar, but I find it interesting that Lamina was also very openly emotional. I doubt it was intentional on SC’s part but maybe it’s an interesting thing to incorporate worldbuilding wise when thinking about the culture in Seven around emotional expression.
Special thanks to @princesspufflesposts and @firehelpmeforget for tagging me!! 🩷
Here’s the first two paragraphs of my @an-everlark-swiftmas wip titled Would It Be Enough. It’s going to be a little sad and angsty but I promise Katniss and Peeta will kiss and make up!
this is a 10 things i hate about you/the taming of the shrew au (love taming of the shrew, but it's a little uhhhh "women are so stupid")
basically premise is that prim is about to turn 18 and is incredibly embarrassed that she hasn't had her first kiss. but — in an attempt to protect her daughters from what happened to her — her mom won't let her date until her older sister does. who's 21 and never even looked at a guy. and now she's starting to have inconvenient, but reciprocated feelings for her best friend. maybe they can convince the baker's youngest son to take katniss out and they'll be free to date openly? you know the rest.
