Intricate Cookies, Delicate Game

Option Holiday

By: KaKaVegeGurl

Author's Note:

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I don't do holiday theme'd ANYTHING these days. But I REALLY wanted to do this.

TristAn did like the sweetest thing this morning and... I just had to.

As you all may know, I've been playing Skyrim lately. And here's what he had planned... He went into my house in Whiterun and set my bed up with a long, SWEET love note, roses over it, and a cute little dummy in the middle (him?).

Then he woke me up and made me cinnamon french toast.

Perfect Valentine's day. And my FIRST EVER not being single.

This isn't the firs time he's put the super-geek of him I love into things... Like proposing to me with Minecraft. ^^

I love it.

So, my personal Peeta inspired THIS.

Enjoy, everyone have a good day and if yer single, sad, or happy and single, or yer with someone, or miserable, I hope this brightens yer day with some good couple humor.

Continue on and may the odds be ever in yer favor!

~KaKaVegeGurl (A)

Side Notes:

Whether I'm right or wrong,

There's no phrase that hits.

Like an ocean needs the sand,

Or a dirty old shoe that fits.

And if all the world was perfect,

I would only ever want to see your scars.

You know they can have their universe,

We'll be in the dirt designing stars

Whether I'm up or down,

There's no crowd to please.

I'm like a faith without a clause to believe in it.

And if all the world was smiling,

I would only ever want to see your frown.

You know they can sail away in sunsets,

We'll be right here stranded on the ground.

Just happy to be found.

You make me feel so beautiful,

Nowhere else in the world I wanna be.

You make me feel so beautiful.

I have lost my illusions,

I have drowned in your words,

I have left my confusion to a cynical world.

I am throwing myself at things I don't understand.

Discover enlightenment holding your hand.

Be Mine

"What's this?"

I turn back from the oven, heart hammering in panic from just the shock of another's presence. I've been waiting this whole time and at least I wasn't disappointed.

Fortunately though, my eyes fall on my father alone, standing in the doorway with his apron on, staring innocently curiously at me. If there was anyone that I'd rather walk in on me doing this it'd be him first and foremost.

I don't even bother to try and hide what I've been doing for the past two hours as I pull them out and set them on the counter in front of him, "How do they look?"

His eyes light up as he sees the little heart-shaped cookies.

It's easy to call them heart-shaped. But it's much more than that. The mold I used to shape them into heart-shaped bundles of smaller hearts was a custom one that I'd been working on personally for months.

"I know we don't normally celebrate the holidays," I try to explain myself as he glances around my tools, "But I can't stop thinking about this. I try not to, but–"

"Romantic." My dad says, a man of fewer words than myself. He takes the icing I'd just finished making and pulls up a small spoon, scooping up some of the treat and tasting it, "Yeah." I'm positive he's pointing out how my icing is never as painfully sweet as others. Mine is more milky, healthy, and above all, it tastes like how you'd think love would. Warm, with just a caress of sweetness.

I shrug, watching him clean the utensil off and sit at the counter, "Don't tell mom?"

He nods, of course, putting the bowl of pink icing back down and looking at the cookies, "What else do you have planned?"

"Well, not roses," I joke and he doesn't understand, so I continue, "The cookies are the second to the last part of it. But it's simple, a meal, the two of us. Dinner, flowers, ribbons."

My face heats up and dad just smiles, looking at the other two icing colors I've prepared and then motions to them, "Do these taste the same?"

I shake my head slowly, "A little different."

"That's a lot of icing."

Of course it is. It's not just for the cookies.

I don't comment on it, but his grin widens and he keeps quiet as they cool, as I start painting each one over with the soft pink, red and white icing over each separate heart.

The chilling wind bites when I'm out of the warm bakery and I move slowly through the snow from the town back into the Victor's Village.

This is one of the few times that I can come to a conclusion that it's not so bad to only have one leg, to not feel both of them slowly freezing at the same time.

The snow beats over my jacket and shoulders, my pants and shoes on the entire walk home, but I'm welcomed by the warmth when I open the door immediately hitting me in the face and putting the feeling back in the tip of my nose.

I hide the cookies away in one of the top cabinets, pulling thick, marinated stakes from the refrigerator and laying them out to cook while I get everything else ready.

It only takes a few minutes to prepare the letter, a few more to set the dandelions from the foot of the stairs, up them in an almost direct line to the bedroom.

Ribbons are strung on the rails of the stairs and the door handle, on the corners of the counter and the dinner table last.

I taste the lamb stew that's been cooking over the course of the day and begin setting up the plates when the front door opens and Katniss walks in, just in time.

Her eyes meet mine and she looks around curiously, confused, "What's this?" She walks to the counter in her hunting boots, dropping the snowed jacket on a stool and slinging her bag up on the surface.

"Well–"

She pulls out the corpse of a rabbit and begins to cut it up on the marble top.

My stomach twists as the blood from it's body drops on one of the ribbons I'd placed on the counter.

"I got a deer," She says, bagging the legs of the little body and taking out a slab of thick flesh from her bag, "I thought you might, you know, want to have venison tonight?"

"Uh–"

She kicks her boots off, her pants hanging low on her waist, held up by only her belt as she looks at me and then to the stove as it beeps loudly.

"Are you cooking something already?" Katniss asks, eyes wide in surprise.

I try to smile as I move slowly from the table, back to her and the stove, turning the grill off and motioning to the sink, "Wash your hands. And then, can you sit... at the table?"

Katniss looks down at the venison, the rabbit, the blood on the counter and then the pink bow that's been dotted with it, "What's going on?"

I take her shoulders, not touching her bloodied fingers, and move her over to the sink, "Do you know," I ask, pressing my chest to her back, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and beginning to wash her hands, "What today is?"

She looks up, her eyes meeting mine as I lather soap, lacing our fingers together and kissing her neck, "Tuesday," She smiles, tilting her head back, "The fourteenth–" She stops.

"Mmm?" I ask, putting my hands on her hips once they're clean and turning her around, "The fourteenth. What else?"

Her face goes pale as she looks to the stairs, "But we don't celebrate holidays."

"Still," I breathe against her brow, "What day is it?"

And then she asks nervously: "It's Valentine's Day, right?"

I nod, motioning to the table again, "Sit down?"

She does, sitting and watching me as I glance at the mess of meat on the counter, "Can this stay here for a while?"

"Of course, why? What's for dinner?"

"Guess." I prepare our plates, hiding them from view as I avoid her gaze until it's set down.

Her eyes look over the bowl of lamb stew and the plate of steamed broccoli, turnip and steak. The candlelight catches the splatter of blood on her shirt as she looks down, smiling wide and grabbing her knife and fork.

"You didn't have to," She offers lightly, blushing when I kiss her temple, and then she proceeds to refuse looking at me as we eat in silence.

"I wanted to."

It's out of her element. But not nearly as out as getting dressed before the games, and doing the interviews with Caesar. I don't think she understands what to do with herself, so I decide, once we've finished eating, to give her some sense of ease.

I reach across and take her hand, cupping all four fingers in my palm. "I know it's... Different now. I know things have been hard for both you and I, Katniss."

She looks up and smiles weakly, her eyes watering.

"Some times," I say, staring deep into her eyes, "Some times you begin to wander why you deal with things like life. You lose hope, you don't even bother with it, after a while. It gets hard to breathe."

"There are horrible things happening around us, things we can't control, things we can't stop. You know how hard it is to be one of those people. To struggle your whole life, and then to know that everyone after you is still going to be struggling."

She nods as I talk, tears dripping down her cheeks.

"I can't say I've struggled," I look around the house, "I've normally been pretty well off," and then I look back to her, "Watching what you had to go through, every day, that was my struggle. Trying to finally get up the courage to tell you how I felt, that was my struggle. Making sure you made it through the games, that was my struggle. If I could've been there, in the Seams, every day of my life, for you to live and be safe... I'd have done it in a heart beat."

"I have you. And I'm not worrying about what happens to other people, sometimes. The outside world becomes less painful, easier to bare. Easier to try and fix."

Katniss smiles, eyes lighting up and she looks down to the messy state of her clothes, consciously pulling at her hair to see if it's controlled.

"I love you." I stand up, walking over to her and helping her from the chair, "As long as I have you, I think that there's possibility. There's hope for the world, for the Districts, when there's a woman like you in it."

"Peeta–"

"You're perfect," I say, kissing her, "I love you."

She does something then that surprises me, her left hand coming up to wipe the blood smeared on her chest and then she touches the tips of her fingers to my lips.

"What's this?" She asks and at first I'm grossed out, but then I smell the sweet scent coming from it and daringly taste... Strawberries.

The grin breaks and she leans up on her toes, kissing me and wrapping her arms around my neck.

Her tongue brushes mine and I feel her slip something between us.

I look down to see the folded sheet of paper I'd wrote the note on.

"What–"

"Go upstairs," She whispers in my ear, dropping back down on the soles of her feet and motioning to the trail of dandelions. "I'll be up in a minute."

Her eyes sparkle mischievously and I do as she says.

Curiously, I walk up the stairs, noting that there's not a single disturbance in the trail of flowers, the ribbon on the bedroom doorhandle is untouched and I turn the knob, swinging the door open and my cheeks immediately heat from the sight of the room.

I'd left it with the dandelions on the bed, set out almost carelessly. But now they're shaped in a large heart over the orange sheets, spelling out my name.

Orange... Sheets.

I grin at the sunset color tone of the room. More sheets have been hung up, light shining through them causing the lazy, warm, sunset glow to provide a theme to the entire room.

I didn't know Katniss was such a good actress.

The door closes behind me and I turn to see her standing against the door, a jar of something, also orange, in her hand.

"Were you being gross with the deer and rabbit meat on purpose?" I ask suspiciously and she nods.

"Some of it was real. But the blood on the counter wasn't. Strawberry juices," She offers, pointing at her shirt, "Was I... Convincing?"

"Yes," I can't help grinning as she walks forward, "And what's this?"

She dips her finger in the jar and smears it on my mouth, just like she'd done with the strawberry before. Only this time, I'm ready for it, and I move to grab her finger between my lips, sucking the warm, heated up jelly off.

"Peach?" I ask and she nods again, "For what?"

"Maybe the same thing as the icing you made," And she motions to the bowls on the night stand before scooping up some of the peach jelly and dabbing just below the right corner of her lips.

I lean in, mouth closing over her chin and licking the sweet substance from her flesh, "You knew it was Valentine's day."

"What girl doesn't?"

Ending Notes:

Short, sweet. Enjoyed? Review? Oh, and there'll be an extended version on my website soon. So look forward to that. ^_~

~KaKaVegeGurl