muted-like-sunset

[muted-like-sunset]

i absolutely hate biceps hahaha definitely don’t flex rn i might scream hahaha

[muted-like-sunset]

can i pls request some peeta fluff? fem reader, maybe some fake dating? but loads of mutual pining, friends to lovers goodness :) definitely not set in universe, this should be happy!! so i guess modern au BUT if you could, it would be suuuuper cool to do like a vintage 60s/70s/80s au!! thank you and i will leave the rest up to you hehe

peeta mellark x fem! reader

heyy... do you want a little taste of what i wrote for this literally months ago? basically an opening scene more than anything else, but (hopefully) there is always more to come.

word count: 1.5k

trigger warning(s): super minor hints at bullying(?), sort of uncomfortable situations that could be considered sexual/flirtatious but nothing happens

(mostly) unedited, all mistakes are my own

You rock back and forth on your toes, checking the time on your watch again and blowing out a breath. He’d specified this tree on this lawn of your college, you knew it well. You pull the crumpled note from your pocket, checking again as if you haven’t checked it so many times the paper is going thin at the creases.

meet me under the willow tree, west lawn 6:30 pm wednesday  p.m.

Shoving the note back into your pocket, you check your watch again. It had, of course, dawned on you that this could be one big prank. Peeta Mellark is essentially King Asshole at your school, what shock would it be for one of his little lackeys to pull this? You're stooping to grab your backpack when you hear heavy footsteps approaching. Slinging one strap over your shoulder, you stand to face him.

His cheeks are flushed from the heat still hanging around, giving you a smile that normally makes girls weak in the knees. He lifts a hand, giving a friendly wave as he approaches. Your name leaves his lips in a quiet breath, “Hey, sorry I’m late. You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”

Your brows furrow, lips pulling into a slight frown. “You said six-thirty in your note.”

He nods, pulling his lower lip between his teeth for a split second. “Yeah, sorry about that. Practice ran later than it was supposed to.”

You shrug, willing to let the tardiness slip by. He watches, dipping his head before gesturing towards the base of the willow. After watching him for a moment, you drop your bag off your shoulder and take a seat. Just behind the willow, maybe ten feet away, the river that cuts through the campus babbles noisily. 

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, watching you for a moment before finding his words. “I wanted to ask you something, a favor.”

“I assumed.” You quip, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. He shuffles a bit, shifting his weight between his feet as he stares at you. A low, dry laugh escapes him.

“Right,” He nods, reaching his left hand to brush through his hair. You wonder, for a moment, how it doesn’t get caught in his blond waves. “Look, I’m sure you’ve heard the formal is coming up?”

“Is that a question?” You retort, sitting up a little. This is where the teasing starts, you're sure of it. Any minute one of his friends will pop out with a video camera. “Yeah, I know about the formal. What about it?”

“Yeah. I was just wondering,” You hold up a hand to stop him, heaving a sigh as you hike up one of your legs and throw your arm across it, resting on your bent knee. 

“Yeah, I’ll pass, Mellark.” The words come out dry, having done your best to mask any hurt. It isn’t rejection, not really, but you’re hurt nonetheless. His brows furrow as he straightens, clearly caught off guard. “What, is this a joke or something?”

He has the decency to look confused, at least. You're starting to grab your bag when he collects himself, shaking his head vehemently. “No, no. Nothing like that.”

“Right.” You deadpan, hauling yourself up. With your bag thrown over your shoulder, you pause on your way to the sidewalk. “You know, I never pinned you as the kind of guy to play with girls like that, Mellark. Thought your friends had that handled.”

“Wait!” He calls, trailing after you as you begin your trip toward the dorms. For a moment, you consider making a scene. “Let me try that again, please? I just, I need to ask you something.”

You ignore him, irritated that he’s still following you. He never seemed all that mean, but you can’t always be right. You don’t cut him off again, letting him follow behind you as you make your way across campus. It's almost funny, Peeta Mellark trailing you desperately, walking backward at your side as you ignore him. His blue eyes are bright and wide as he peeks back on occasion when his foot catches on something. 

“Go out with me? Just, just once and you never have to talk to me again.” He pleads quietly, a hint of something else in his voice. Something like a bargain.

You relent, not looking his way as the sidewalk gives way, temporarily, to a stone bridge over the river. “What's in it for me?” 

He perks up, brows shooting up as he stumbles at the change in the path. He catches himself easily, one of the perks of athleticism, you guess. “For you? Uh…”

Across the bridge, some of his usual friend group are gathered. Clove Kentwell and Cato Hadley, the school’s on-again-off-again couple who must be on-again, are pressed against one another at the edge of the bridge. Clove is perched on the wall, her pretty face pulling into a grin at their approach. Beside them, Glimmer Belcourt gives you a saccharine grin. You falter in your steps momentarily, considering backtracking and making your way around campus to the dorms. 

“Ooh, what’s happening here?” Clove calls, cupping a hand next to her mouth. Already spotted, you dip your chin and hasten your steps. It isn’t enough for them to leave you alone, Glimmer steps into your path before you can exit the bridge. 

“Peeta, hey.” She purrs, reaching a hand out to rest against his chest. You grimace, stepping to the side to continue your path. Glimmer, when she isn’t totally sleeping with Cato and maybe even Clove, is pretty well known to have her eyes firmly on Peeta Mellark. You don’t want to be in the middle of her affection any more than you want to be in a closet with a bobcat. Peeta’s hand shoots out, wrapping carefully around your wrist to keep you from leaving. The action doesn’t go unnoticed, Glimmer’s eyes trail down his arm to you quickly. “Need something?”

“Me? No.” You manage, trying to pull out of Peeta’s grasp. You’re opening your mouth to speak again when he cuts you off.

“We were just about to drop her stuff off and go get some food.” He smiles, rubbing your wrist with his thumb. A shiver shoots up your spine at the contact, but you don’t pull away. It feels like your body is betraying you, relaxing under his grip when you should be ripping your arm away. “Right?”

Your brows furrow, watching him for a moment. His blue eyes meet yours, pleading. You shouldn’t, you really really shouldn’t, but leaving him with them feels inexplicably bad. You’ll have to ask for something impressive in return.

You turn your hand to grasp his back, encouraging him away from Glimmer and to your side. Your other hand comes up to his arm, wrapping around the inside of his bicep as far as your fingers will go. Glimmer’s brows knit together and you give her a slow smile. “I think the plan was Sae’s.”

His eyes brighten, easing away from Glimmer’s hand on his chest and toward your side. You exit the group with a little tilt of your head, trying to look teasing and not irritated. His hand stays in yours until you make it past the bend in the sidewalk that takes you between dorm buildings. 

“Your friends seem really great.” You say, turning to face him as you reach the door to your dorm building and stop on the first step. Keys jingle in your hand as you fish them from your pocket, working to unlock the door. The key sticks, as it sometimes does in the heat, and you pull it back out before trying again. 

“They’re alright.” Peeta says after a minute of quiet. You throw a look over your shoulder, squinting at him in disbelief. You can’t imagine, after that interaction, that he genuinely thinks that. Then, maybe he does. You can’t say you know Peeta any better than you know the rest of them. “They can be a little bit much, I guess, but they’re good people.”

You have to bite down a laugh, nodding as you get the door unstuck. It’s swollen in the heat and humidity of early fall, the late summer conditions seem hellbent on sticking around a little longer. You push in on it hard, stepping into the dorm and turning to face him. You’re deciding what to do when he speaks up. 

“I can wait here.” He says easily, giving you a reassuring smile. It broadens a little, shier as he looks to his feet. “I mean, if you want to actually go. My treat, of course.”

“You’ll do anything to get that date, huh?” You tease, trying to keep your cool. His persistence is endearing, especially since it isn’t accompanied by any leering or needless touching. Sighing, you throw a look down the main hall of the dorm building like you can physically feel the calling of your bed before leaning against the frame. “Fine, just – give me ten minutes. You wait here.”

Even though you don’t look back at him as you shoulder the door open further and step into the somewhat-cool building, you can practically hear him grinning. “Of course, always.”

[muted-like-sunset]

since it has taken a truly ungodly amount of time for me to get spark updated (literally finished the next part last night and it still needs editing and reworking), i think i’m going to post some snippets/ideas for future parts! just something to keep me going, i guess!

[muted-like-sunset]

"it's america day" no it's haymitch's birthday thank you very much

(tip jar! // comms status)

[muted-like-sunset]

be honest if i told you i see two possibilities for the future of spark… with different mockingjays…

[muted-like-sunset]

Imagine the pure chaos of being a classmate of Katniss and Peeta’s and then watching them in the games. Delly mentions Katniss was admired and Peeta is said to be popular. So now these nice kids you’ve known for years took two days in each other’s close proximity to act weird.

The reserved girl who doesn’t even smile in town with either of her friends is laughing and kissing the boy. The charming guy is making fun of her scowl and saying he doesn’t mind if she sees him naked. He also airs out some of his family’s dirty laundry. They make a suicide pact. The girl has always tried for a stoic face but now she’s cried hysterically over the boy. They’re volunteering to die for each other. They’ve kissed for at least ten minutes on national television twice.

I’m sure the games have caused tributes to act different from their district impressions but I’m not sure if they ever revealed two people to be so weirdly intense about each other.

[muted-like-sunset]

thinking about Burdock Everdeen rn…

this is an Emily Dickinson poem!!

[muted-like-sunset]

So, after

Tiny Peeta POV "so after" drabble

@rosegardeninwinter and @triassictriserratops are to blame for this getting yanked out of my head

I look at her flushed cheeks and awe struck eyes in total euphoria. Something shifts in her expression and it’s a familiar look, something both soft and knowing, long suffering and friendly. It’s a look I’ve seen a thousand times from her. This morning, last week, in the quell, in her kitchen, on the train. I can’t think of when I first saw that particular gaze, it’s become such second nature to accept it with a grin or a squeeze of the hand. For her to be here, naked in my arms with the red stain of pleasure still hot on her cheeks, and look at me the way she’s always looked at me… it’s…

Oh what a fool I’ve been. 

How much time have I wasted gifting her space that she didn’t ask for? How long have I ignored those looks, made excuses for intimacies, reasoned away every stubborn, reckless act of self sacrifice? My memories of the quell are some of the hardest to sort through, but I know at least that we were in disagreement on who should make it home. Did I know then, and just lost the memory? Or did I push it down because I didn’t want to see it when I knew I wouldn’t make it back? 

Katniss dips her head to lay a petal soft kiss on my collar bone. How did I not notice? 

“You love me,” I breathe in realization. In shock. In shame for ignoring it all this time. “Real or not real?” 

Her eyes flick up to meet mine, and I watch my words settle over her. She smiles. 

“Real.” 

[muted-like-sunset]

the difference between Haymitch and Katniss's narration is so funny. Haymitch would give us everyone's social security number if he knew them, while Katniss wouldn't even tell us her mom's name.

[muted-like-sunset]

The mockingbird, the jabberjay and the mockingjay 🕊️ inspired by this post by @fromevertonow

[muted-like-sunset]

i’m so appreciative to suzanne for reframing the rebellion from the original trilogy as a “they saw their moment and took it” type situation and showing us that they’ve been trying, over and over, with so many failed attempts, to break the arena and incite a rebellion for decades. in this current political climate never giving up hope is so essential. haymitch wasn’t the first nor the last, and they kept going even when it seemed completely futile, and that’s what counts, and what ultimately saves them all.

[muted-like-sunset]

i love how suzanne just gives us a little treat by mentioning the katniss plant every book. like here u go. ik u miss our girl. she's fine. enjoy lowercase katniss

[muted-like-sunset]

i love you like all-fire

[muted-like-sunset]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[muted-like-sunset]

literally gasped

I'll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out

[muted-like-sunset]

peeta: breathes

katniss, internally: hm. interesting. strategic. emotionally destabilizing. soft. fluffy. uncalled for.

[muted-like-sunset]

heyyyyy…

long time no see! do you remember me? is anyone out there?

the semester is done, and i’m out for the summer. took my last exam this morning, actually. in the spirit of being done and finally free, i have a few little feeler questions.

1. would you want more fanfic?? peeta specifically, but i’m not opposed to other characters… i did read sunrise on the reaping after all.

2. if i were, hypothetically, working on a sort of AU fanfic that didn’t start as a fanfic… maybe katniss x reader… wlw… first person… how would we feel about that?