Exploring Everlark

[likesunsetorange]

katniss “i don’t care about peeta mellark outside of trying to help us both survive, all of this is for the cameras” everdeen

“And while I was talking, the idea of actually losing Peeta hit me again and I realized how much I don’t want him to die. And it’s not about the sponsors. And it’s not about what will happen back home. And it’s not just that I don’t want to be alone. It’s him. I do not want to lose the boy with the bread.” thg ch 22

“This is the first kiss that we’re both fully aware of. Neither of us hobbled by sickness or pain or simply unconscious. Our lips neither burning with fever or icy cold. This is the first kiss where I actually feel stirring inside my chest. Warm and curious. This is the first kiss that makes me want another.” thg ch 22

“As we settle in, he pulls my head down to use his arm as a pillow, the other rests protectively over me even when he goes to sleep. No one has held me like this in such a long time. Since my father died and I stopped trusting my mother, no one else’s arms have made me feel this safe.” thg ch 22

“I pull the sleeping bag up to his chin and kiss his forehead, not for the audience, but for me. Because I’m so grateful that he’s still here, not dead by the stream as I’d thought. So glad that I don’t have to face Cato alone.” thg ch 24

[everlarkias]

shoutout to everlark for having the craziest “what are we” convo post-mockingjay

[rosegardeninwinter]

you cannot leave this in the tags, you two @littlerosette @thesweetnessofspring

I always imagined they pretty much knew they were a couple before “so after” and Peeta was just confirming it in the afterglow but what’s amazing is that Suzanne doesn’t give us even a crumb more so all of these interpretations are so yummy/funny

I’ve never considered an argument (okay, unless you count what happens in Mejhiren’s “Miles Cross”) but now I’m all in my feels over it 😭

[thegreenthepeacetheorange]

this is so katniss everdeen-coded

[moneypowerglorymiddleofmiami]

people fr fought in that arena to keep peeta alive for katniss and idk y'all that's very nepo boyfriend baby girl of him

[katnissmellarkkk]

katniss when she never thought she would see peeta again : depressed, anxious, mood swings like crazy, crying nonstop, disoriented, dissociated, grieving like a widow in the war.

katniss when she never thought she would see gale again : “now i can do whatever i want with peeta and no one can make me feel guilty for it”

[vampirehizzies-deactivated20250]

katniss in book!mockingjay after beetee apologized for stealing away time with gale: [internally] well that isn't particularly an inconvenience to me but okay

katniss at the end of book!mockingjay when gale goes to district two and she assumes he moved on to another love interest: [sighs in relief]

[katnissmellarkkk]

katniss when she never thought she would see peeta again : depressed, anxious, mood swings like crazy, crying nonstop, disoriented, dissociated, grieving like a widow in the war.

katniss when she never thought she would see gale again : “now i can do whatever i want with peeta and no one can make me feel guilty for it”

[enigmachine69]

Look, impending death and murder aside, Katniss must be so excited to be all lovey dovey with Peeta again in the Quarter Quell lol. She missed him after their first games, she didn't want to let go. She was confused while she was at home and Gale was also working in the mines full time by then, so she didn't even have the bestie who made her feel guilty to distract her. Mrs. Everdeen was a cockblock.

The kiss on tv was a good excuse. Peeta wanting to be friends broke the ice. The victory tour and QQ training surely brought them closer together. The rooftop picnic date and sleeping together in the train must've been a pressure cooker where, girling was lying on his lap, she allowed it, she slept through the night in his arms. The games being their last hurrah (and the baby) was Katniss' excuse to finally devour the poor guy lol.

That must have been the most free Katniss has ever been. She doesn't need to feed her family, she no longer worries about what Gale will feel, Snow already told her she failed...her only worry is that Peeta would sacrifice for her but she was honestly confident that she can take him (as in make him win lol).

Honestly girl, same. I get to freely love my crush AND I die in the end leaving this fucked up world behind?! Honey nut cheerio, mf 😂

[thesweetnessofspring]

I'll never get over the fact that when Gale asked Katniss where they would be if Peeta had been a jerk and died in the Games she's all 🙄 "we'd be hunting."

But then Peeta drops the baby bomb and Katniss is like "if I hadn't denied myself of ever wanting children, this would be real and I'd be pregnant with Peeta's child right now."

!!! GIRL !!! Those are two VERY different outcomes!

[rogers-carter]

There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. THE HUNGER GAMES APPRECIATION WEEK day seven → free for all

[everlarksquell]

since peeta’s favorite color is basically sunset orange i’m gonna take the fact that he woke her up to see the sunset while they were on the roof as him specifically wanting to share with her what he considered one of the most beautiful sights in the world during (what they’d thought would be) their last days.

[your-mums-nuts]

No one UNDERSTANDS how much Katniss loves Peeta she thinks he’s the cleverest man in the world she thinks he’s too good for anyone she goes crazy when she thinks he’s in danger she literally develops a drug addiction OVERNIGHT because she misses him so much. Yes, Peeta gave her peace but Katniss gave him everything over and over again.

[padme-amidala]

THE HUNGER GAMES APPRECIATION WEEK Day 4: favorite character ↬ PEETA MELLARK

[madeofjules]

I feel that we as a society do not talk about the everlark nose kiss enough

[everlarksquell]

« Instead he pulls me in close and buries his face in my hair. Warmth radiates from the spot where his lips just touch my neck, slowly spreading through the rest of me. It feels so good, so impossibly good, that I know I will not be the first to let go. »

the comfort they both find in physical touch has me in tears.

[everlarksquell]

« Having an eye for beauty isn't the same thing as a weakness,” Peeta points out. “Except possibly when it comes to you. »

peeta mellark the only man ever

[heavensbeehall]

"I don’t have a stick, so I take my remaining arrow and insert it in the knot, twisting it as tightly as I dare. It’s risky business — Peeta may end up losing his leg — but when I weigh this against him losing his life, what alternative do I have?" -- Chapter 25, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I like the symbolism here. That she would rather use the arrow to help mend Peeta than fight the mutts or Cato. Both are still threats at this point. But Peeta dying is the biggest one in her mind.

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

I really DO think the Hijacking didn't take away Peeta's love for Katniss. I almost think how entirely nasty he was SHOWS that somewhere there was still some love.

The force behind him being so angry and unhinged I think is under the fear conditioning, the chemical reaction in his brain telling him she is a threat and the altered memories that support that, he knows this "monster" was someone he loved. Someone he trusted and beleived at least cared for him if nothing else. Whitch makes his fear, his distrust and hurt double.

On TOP of that as my evidence, I still have yet to be given an reason why the 'Stay with me' kiss would work if he didn't still love her somehow. Or that he would trust her to play the 'real or not real' game or come to the conclusion Katniss was protecting him or be willing to trust her when she says they protect eachother. Or to save her when she tries to use the nightlock pill. We forget Peeta is not forced to begin to be comfortable with Katniss again, even while in the Star Squad with her. No one is telling him to trust or to be friends with her. That is his choice to do that. And why would he fight literally fear conditioning to be able to be in the same space as someone if you don't love them? Or at least really want to be comfortable around them still.

And if he didn't love her under all that fear and confusion I don't think he would have.

This is also why I love the conversations around who makes the first move post MJ. Cause I literally have NEVER been able to decide what feels more canonical. They both have a reason, once he comes back and after some time and healing has taken place to want to express and assure the other of their feelings. So it could be either of them and to me, it'd be perfect and make sense.