district twelve
" You don't realise of course, how fascinatingly beautiful you have always been."
Jess Aarons - Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Laurel glanced over at Magnus and smiled warmly, nodding her head in agreement. “It does sometimes, but he’s just so happy all the time that I think he’s alright, even if teething makes his life a bummer sometimes.” She laughed, totally believing what Peeta had said about himself. “Yeah, I think he might. He’s a really good napper already, so we’ll see. He’s gonna grow a lot, with Titus as tall as he is. He’ll be so handsome when he grows up.” Her eyes were fixed on Magnus and she watched him lovingly. There were some things that she couldn’t look forward to when he grew, though she did still want him to stay a little baby forever. “Hm, that’s a good idea,” she said, snapping out of it. “I’ll have to give her a visit. She had three kids, so she’ll know.”
“Hey, Mellark’s Bakery is official, isn’t it?” she raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. “Give yourself more credit, Peets.” She walked behind him, ruffling his hair up again with a smirk. She looked at everything on the counter and nodded. “I think we definitely are. You want anything to eat while we bake, Peets?” She smiled at him and went to the fridge, getting a few cans of soda out for the two of them, handing one of them to him.
She went and put away the smaller cake tin, pouting up at Peeta. “Hey, this is my kitchen, too. I brought some good cooking appliances and stuff in here when I moved in.” She raised a brow at him. “This is the Edenthaw kitchen.” She smiled proudly and walked back to the counter, putting her hands down on the marble. “Alright, sounds good to me. Let me get us some bowls.” She went to the cabinets and pulled out a few mixing bowls. “That’s so true. I never thought about it. Momma’s kitchen at home has everything grouped together in the same way as our kitchen here does.”
“I don’t know much about babies but I know munchkin is a good one. He’s happy and generally behaved. Except for when he falls asleep on us.” Peeta said with a laugh and pointing towards Magnus. “Don’t forget you, you’re pretty tall too. Well, taller than me.” Peeta grumbled a little. He was always smaller than everyone except Artie and Jameson. He was sure it wouldn’t take long for Magnus to be taller than him. Peeta was pretty certain that any kids that Laurel and Titus had together would be taller than him. “Is Titus’s momma nice?” Peeta asked curiously. He had met his brother once but he seemed like the opposite of Titus all together.
“It’s pretty official. One day it might be my bakery.” Peeta said with a smile. He couldn’t see himself doing anything else with his life and he’d love to take the family business over. He quickly raised his hand to flatten his hair once more and mumbled ‘quit it’ under his breath. Peeta’s stomach grumbled at the idea of food. “Have you got any crisps? For some reason making something sweet makes me want to eat something savoury.” Peeta said, patting his stomach. He had an inkling that the craving came from baking cakes and eating cheesy rolls.
“I’m sorry, sissy. I’m in love with your kitchen then. Is that better?” He asked, smiling innocently at Laurel. It was funny to think that Laurel was married to Titus and this was her home now. It was a happy thought because Peeta wished he had a home to live in rather than a hotel room. He was happy for Laurel thought, to him, no one deserved happiness more. It was especially good to see Laurel calling it ‘ours’ and smiling about it. Peeta hated when Laurel was sad so the fact that her and Titus were back together was great news.
Peeta moved to the side and took the bowls from Laurel once she handed them out. They would only need two for now, one for wet ingredients and one for dry. “I think we’ve all been taught things have a place. It’s a bit different in the bakery at home but that’s just a big kitchen with more room.” Peeta said, thinking back to the bakery at home. There would be trays and cooling racks in every corner as well as a few extra ovens but theoretically, everything was in the same places. His pa had always made sure of that. “Maybe a kitchen runs smoothly when everything has it’s place.” He said, recalling his fathers words.
Once they had everything in place before them. Peeta moved towards the sink to quickly wash his hands. It was a habit he had picked up from home but he had to wash his hands before baking, otherwise it felt wrong. “Do you wanna do the dry ingredients or the wet ones?” Peeta asked. He always thought the idea of wet ingredients was funny. They weren’t really wet, it was just butter and sugar and then the milk and eggs but it was far from runny.
Oh God, I hope that never happens - I value my life very much. I think it’ll be fine when it does happen, hopefully. It doesn’t! It somehow feels like the districts run on… what is it… island time. That whole, we do everything in our own time and it happens when it happens to Capitol time, where everything happens exactly when it needs to and not a second later.
I think Chelsea will keep you safe. Just don’t be in her bed when it happens. Wow, that sounded bad. We just had a sleep over once. I suppose that’s right. I think working in the mines for District Twelve is different. They need to meet quotas or whatever but everything else moves slowly.
Oh..Oh my God.
I guess that depends on how long you think you’ve been sleeping?
I’m still pretty positive that she hasn’t gotten around to mentioning it yet, otherwise I think Caesar would be breathing down my neck. That’s an understatement. Things here move… so many times faster than anything in the districts. At least, that’s what it feels like.
Yeah, he would have showed up by now. If you haven’t woken up to him glaring down at you, you’re safe. No, that’s definitely what it feels like. I swear nothing at home ever changes.
Have I earned myself a reputation? It’s nice to officially meet you though, Peeta. Ah, you never really get used to it, honestly. I’ve been in and out of here for a long time and I’m still getting the hang out it.
Perhaps. I just heard that you moved in with her and she was asking me on some advice about if she should tell her dad. It’s nice to officially meet you too. This is my first long term stay. I swear everything changes so quickly though.
He’s been perfectly fine with Chelsea’s dog, so I think he’s a friendly little dude all around. That’s not all that surprising, I mean, they have everything under the sun around here.
Oh, so… you must be the Elliot I have heard so much about? They do. I’m still getting surprised by what the Capitol has.
I think so! He started answering to it almost right away, so I think he likes it. I haven’t had the chance yet, but I’ll make sure I take him to one, he’d probably adore it.
It’s a lot of fun, especially if Zeus is friendly with other dogs. They have a great range of stuff for dogs to do.
I think he’s finally starting to get used to being in the house, although walks are basically heaven on Earth for him.
Zeus is a good name. Have you seen some of the dog parks they have here? It’s like doggy heaven. I take Buddy down all the time.
