Eye contact

Summary: Just one glimpse, one little eye contact, more than he ever dared to do. - Day 1 Farewell ~ Prompts in Panem

AN: 1) a big thanks to Jessa for all her hard work to make the Prompts in Panem.

2) English is not my native language, but thank god for roseymama & something-in-the-way-she-knows on tumblr for their corrections. And again like all my PiP contributions was this short story written in a few hours

3) All charcters belonge to Suzanne Collins. I just borrowed them.

"Do not miss the Highlight of this winter!

In the final competition Mellark vs. Mellark!

Who will win?"

Everywhere Katniss looked at school, even in town and at a few places in the seam, she saw these annoying posters. Advertisements for the Wrestling Competition, which was the traditional beginning of the Winter Solstice Festival, the feast at the end of winter. It was normal that there were posters that highlighted the competition but never was it so extreme like now.

And Katniss was sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the people just wanted more entertainment after this especially long, dark winter that was so strenuous for everyone and more with the final fight.

The Mellark brothers would wrestle against each other. A final fight that has never happened before. Even thought all three Mellark boys were wrestlers. Never were 2 directly competing against each over. They were always in different weight classes but now Peeta Mellark, the youngest got in the highest weight class with his 2 years older brother Rye and they would wrestle against each other.

The city was excited and happy. Everyone knew this would be the competition of the century. Especially the girls in District 12 were happy Peeta reached the higher weight class, with weight that resulted from pure muscle mass gain. And all the girls noticed how much nicer he looked now in his small wrestler unitard. – And to Katniss embarrassment she noticed it too.

It is just that after Peeta Mellark saved the lives of her sister, her mother and herself at the age of 11 she just liked to keep an eye on him and find a way to pay him back. In any way that she could. And it just so happended that while keeping her eyes open she noticed that he gained more muscles than anything else the last year. Which is no surprise after all he could lift 100 pounds sacks of flour like they weighed nothing at all. And he is a really good wrestler.

She really hoped for Peeta to win. Not that wrestling is important. There are more important matters at hand, such as hunting and the next reaping which would be Prims first. But this couldn´t stop Katniss from stopping to look at the posters to read when the great match would happen. Just to stay away from the school, where the tournament will be, where too many people would be. She would not be there, no way. After all what would it bring? She can´t even make eye contact with Peeta, so there would be no chance to thank him for the bread at the tournament.

͠

Peeta didn´t like that everybody made such a fuss about the tournament. It was just a wrestling competition. More important problems should be discussed in the district. The hard winter, that again 20 children had starved, that the Hunger Games still exist after 74 years, the mining conditions were horrible, so many more important things than an event where 2 guys roll on a mat.

But Peeta Mellark was not dumb. He knew it was not possible to have open discussions about these important things. That it was not possible to complain about it. Everybody who did died a strange death or vanished when they were lucky. The unlucky ones lost beloved ones. So everyone stays quite.

People train themselves to conentrate on other things, harmless things. The wrestling match between two boys, a little fun, distraction from all these silent problems, a distraction from this long, cold and hard winter.

He understood all this, but it didn´t mean he had to like it. Everywhere he went, every customer in the bakery wanted to talk to him. The nice ones were wishing him luck, the mean ones said they were sure his brother Rye would win and the extreme ones, the ones that were betting on the tournament, the same ones that also bet on the Hunger Games reaping asked him if there were any problems, injuries or anything else.

Everyone was watching him and even for Peeta with his outgoing personality, this judicial watching made him more than extremely nervous. In the last 2 hours alone, 5 customers asked after him. How he was, if he was ready and so on and so on. When Peeta almost started to scream after the 10th round of questions, if the red burn mark on his arm would interfere with him in the competition his father took pity on him and let him stay in the back, taking over the front. Still people were asking about him and Rye. His father stayed polite, but it really started to get ridiculous.

Peeta was kneading cookie dough when the knock sounded at the back door. And his heart stopped for a second. He had totally forgotten that it was time Katniss always came along with her hunting partner Gale to trade with his father. He should go to the door and talk to her. Look her in the eye. Make the trade and then try to ask her a simple question, like 'how she finds the weather' or 'if she already completed the math homework'. Simple. But he just couldn´t. She was just too intimidating.

So instead of going to the door he walked to the front and said to his dad that someone was at the backdoor. He could hear them talk in the kitchen after his dad let Katniss in. Apparently she was alone. It would have been so easy to talk to her, but Peeta was just a coward. No better way to say it. Another missed chance to finally talk with Katniss, to get her attention, to become friends with her and maybe one day to tell her about his feelings. A new customer came in and his attention went to him. Smiling as brightly as he could when he got asked again if he was ready for the match in a few days.

͠

Today was the day of the wrestling tournament. The town was deserted. Everyone was there in the gym of the school, waiting. And Katniss was also there, sitting next to Madge Undersee waiting for the big fight. At the entrance people were standing and selling their goods. Later after the fight they would change location to the town square, merchants in front of their shops, with the rest around the square. Then the real Winter Solstice Festival really began.

5 matches were already over but no one really was interested in them. When Katniss arrived at the school Madge looked at her strangely. Probably trying to understand why she was there. And Katniss didn´t know it herself. She woke up in the morning with the assumption that she would not to go the match. But after she was done hunting, and trading everything off and even the people at the Hob talked about the match, her feet just pulled her in the direction of the school. And now she was sitting here in the 5 th row (the daughter of the major needed to be present and have good seats after all) impatient that the fight would just start, waiting to see Peeta Mellark, the Boy with the Bread.

The atmosphere was getting higher and higher with tension and then it exploded. Rye and Peeta Mellark got into the middle of the ring and the people started to scream.

The big fight was about to start.

͠

He is nervous. More than nervous. It seems the whole town is here. Everyone that he knows. And most nerve wrecking, Katniss Everdeen is sitting in the audience. He would never had thought she would be here but now she is. And that makes him nervous. More nervous than everything else.

Rye stands in front of him, ready to start when the whistle blows.

'Concentrate Mellark. This is important.'

Peeta says to himself again and again. And then the match is about start.

Peeta and Rye circle each other, making attacks from time to time. No one gets the upper hand. Peeta knows that he can beat his brother. He knows it… One glimpse, one little moment of eye contact, more than he ever dared to do before…one secret glimpse, watching her without her knowledge, looking at her and her looking back… and this is the chance for Rye.

In seconds Peeta lies on the mat and can´t move anymore. He tries everything but nothing works. He can´t free himself. The referee comes and starts to count.

Over.

The end.

Rye jumps up and starts to scream. He won. His friends run to congratulate and celebrate him. Peeta stands up as his friends come. Delly arrives first, and she hugs him while saying she is sorry. He doesn´t regret it. Katniss looked at him, and he at her.

͠

A strange sadness comes over Katniss. She can´t really get happy about the fact that Rye Mellark won. She politely applauds like the rest of the audience. But she is still sad. The match was short but intense. And for a second she thinks, shortly before Peeta got pinned down he looked directly at her. Since she looked back. Eye contact. The first time after years. After she was eleven. Like a secret between them. But that could not be right. She had to have imagined it. He doesn´t know her. They have never talked.

Slowly Katniss gathers herself and leaves together with Madge. They want to go to the square where the festival will take place. Prim will be there. She was so nervous in the last weeks. Her first reaping is in a few months. And even thought her name will only be on 1 paper slip, that was enough for her to starte to have nightmares that she will be reaped. She needs to think about something else. She needs a bit of fun in this hard life.

Katniss looks back into the middle of the gym, the place Peeta is still standing surrounded by his friends. And again their eyes connect, just for a second. But then a person walks into her field of vision and the moment is over.

She can´t linger. Prim is waiting.

͠

The whole evening people come to the stand of his family and say how sorry they are that he lost. Peeta just smiles saying it just wasn´t his time. He stands next to his father selling goods and giving treats away for free when his mother is not looking. It´s the Winter Solstice Festival.

Rye walks around with his friends celebrating his win. He is not jealous or angry that he lost. He is kind of happy. To look at her while she was looking back is a step in the right direction. His only regret is that he hasn´t talked to her. Because with a win he is sure he would have had enough self-esteem to talk to her.

He hears laughing from the square and looks up. Primrose Everdeen is laughing and smiling at her sister. Katniss smiles back. She smiles so rarely.

He makes a decision. I will talk to her. Today was just the first step. He will talk to her.

After the next reaping I will talk to her.