district twelve
" You don't realise of course, how fascinatingly beautiful you have always been."
Laurel had so many little siblings that she knew a lot about how to care for babies, but somehow it made it so much worse to see her own son going through all the yucky bits of growing. She sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “Yeah, but teething lasts forever. Every couple of months it’ll be a few new teeth for two years. Two years of teething. I hope it’ll get easier for him as he gets older, but these first two have been…” She huffed.” A total nightmare for him.”
She flattened out her apron, making sure it was stain and wrinkle free as she glanced up at Peeta. “I’m sure it does, Peets. You sure look like a baker with that thing on.” She gave him a warm smile and walked past him, ruffling his hair. “I’ve had this apron forever. It has its own history, but I’m sure it’s not as cool as yours is. So official.” She smiled and worked on gathering what they needed from the fridge.
“So you think we’re in business here? I don’t think I’m missing anything. I really like the kitchen to be stocked in case stuff like this happens where I decide to make something on a whim.” Settling the rest of the ingredients on the island counter, she smiled and walked to the cabinet next to the oven, pulling out two round cake tins. “These work? These are the ones I use to make cake, anyway.”
Peeta pulled a face at the new information. “Being a baby sucks.” he said with a nod of his head. He couldn’t even imagine how much it would hurt and he was glad that his memories of that were long gone. “After that he just needs to do all his growing. Hopefully he will just eat and sleep through that like I did.” Peeta could remember all of his growth spurts, however limited they were, and the amount of food he went through in that time. With Laurel and Titus as parents, Peeta was sure that Magnus would be over six foot tall and probably much more lanky than Peeta was. “Have you asked Titus’s momma? She might know something that’ll help?” he suggested.
He grinned, running his fingers over the blue material. “That’s just because it says Mellark’s Bakery on it. Shop names seem more official than they are.” He automatically scrunched up his nose and tried to flatten his hair back down. He would remember to get Laurel back for that later and maybe with some flour. Peeta went to assist Laurel, taking things from her hands and turning to place them on the bench. “I definitely think we are in business.” he said, looking over everything. His mind was already working over the steps and figuring out the order of everything they would need. Luckily for them, vanilla wakes were really simple and it wouldn’t take them too much time at all.
“Those are perfect!” Peeta said, stepping over to inspect the cake tins and choosing the bigger of the two. The recipe in his mind would have enough cake batter to fill it. “I think I am in love with Titus’s kitchen.” Peeta said with a grin, smiling fondly at the oven. He had missed having a proper kitchen, he would have been happy with an oven but that wasn’t really an option for when you were living in a hotel. “We should start with the dry ingredients.” he said, opening a few draws until he found the measuring cups he would need. “Have you ever noticed that most kitchens are set out exactly the same?”
You didn’t have to make me anything, Peeta.
Of course I did. It’s your birthday!
Laurel nodded. “Yeah, he does that a lot. He’s be going and going and then he just passes out. It’s so cute.” She made sure his blanket was tucked around him before she turned back around again. “I know, my poor munchkin. God, you have no idea how much teething sucks. Not just for him but for all of us, too.”
She crossed her arms and watched him put on his apron, giving him an approving nod. “I like it. You look so official.” She went to grab her own apron, which was just blue with purple stripes, and she put it on. “Not as cool as yours but… eh. It’ll do.”
Laurel took one more glance at Magnus, smiling at him. “Yeah, he’ll hopefully be out cold for a while. He hasn’t slept well in forever, so we’ll see.” She bit her lip and moved to the cabinets, hoping that she had what they needed. “Gosh… I hope I do. Titus usually keeps the kitchen pretty well stocked. Let’s see, we’ve got flour, sugar, vanilla extract… and I know we have eggs, butter, and milk in the fridge. And—” She pulled a few bottles of food coloring out. “All kinds of cool colors.”
Peeta knew it was difficult having children but watching Laurel with Magnus was an entirely new thing for him. As the youngest, he had never seen what it was like for a baby to grow up. He had done a lot of reading when Laurel was pregnant though but he still didn’t know much. “At least once the teething is over, it’s over.” he said, with a shrug. As far as he knew, it was a once in a life time thing so he would grow out of it.
He looked down at his apron, shrugging as he patted down the dark blue material. “It reminds me of home.” he said quietly, feeling a tinge of home sickness. He had been in the Capitol far too long and he missed his father dearly. Having friends like Haymitch and Laurel had helped him out a lot. Laurel was definitely his family in the Capitol. “As long as it keeps you clean, it’ll do it’s job.”
Peeta nodded his head with each ingredient, crossing everyone off his list. He was happy to find that Laurel already had everything. It was a lot easier than going out to the shops if they were missing anything. “Excellent!” Peeta said, clapping his hands together and then cringing. He peeked over at Magnus but he was still sound asleep. In a much quieter voice he continued. “That’s great. As long as you have a cake tin, we are set. It’ll be the bluest vanilla cake anyone has ever seen.”
Laurel watched Magnus as Peeta grabbed for his hand, leaning down to kiss his temple and whisper in his ear. “Be nice, Magnus.” But Magnus still wasn’t having any of it. He gripped Peeta’s finger for a moment before he fussed and let out a few little sobs, waving his hands around before he turned back to Laurel and buried his face into her neck. His little hands grabbed at her hair as he made hiccupy sobbing noises until his eyes drooped shut and he fell asleep.
“Gosh, Peeta, I’m sorry,” Laurel whispered, frowning as she held Magnus close. “He hasn’t been sleeping much lately because of his teething and then I just went and woke him up from his nap.” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. “You know he’s not usually like this. Poor thing.” She closed the front door behind the both of them, moving into the kitchen where she had Magnus’ carrier all set up on the counter so he could be in the room with them as they baked.
Settling Magnus in the carrier, she covered him with his blanket and kissed his forehead, putting her hands on her hips and smiled. “Alright… I say we bake and let the munchkin sleep so he’ll be more cheery for cake time later. I can even move him upstairs if you want, so we can actually talk.”
Peeta chuckled quietly. “I never thought a baby would fall asleep so quickly.” he said, following behind Laurel. He made sure to stay quiet so as not to startle Magnus. He very much hated the sound of Magnus crying and he would hate to be the one doing it. “Poor little guy. He’s just exhausted. I’m not going to blame him for that but it is funny.” he said in a hushed voice.
He watched as Magnus drooped in his carrier. He was definitely out of it. “Teething must really suck.” he said, making his way into the kitchen. Peeta took his back pack off and rested it against the counter and knelt down to retrieve his apron. The Mellark’s Bakery was still the only personal item he had from home and he never went anywhere without it. He always felt completely wrong baking without it.
“We’ll see how we go. He seems pretty out of it and he isn’t even fussing.” Peeta said in a slightly louder voice, chancing a look at the sleeping child. Peeta slipped the apron over his head and tied it up around his back. ”I know I do normally check this but, you do have all the ingredients for cake, don’t you?” he asked. Mentally, he started listing all the ingredients that they would need.
Laurel was walking around the living room with a very sleepy Magnus, bouncing him up and down in her arms to wake him since he had just gotten up from his nap. He had a tight grip on her shirt and raised his head off of her shoulder to take a look around the room, making a grumpy face that looked exactly like something Titus always did, and she laughed. Magnus started to cry a little bit, not having any of it since he was so tired.
“Ooh, stop fussing, you cranky thing,” she said to him, cooing at him and kissing his cheek to calm him down. “I know I woke you from your nap but Uncle Peeta is coming over to make you cake.” She kissed him again and brushed his hair out of his face. “Silly munchkin.”
A knock was heard at the door and Laurel gasped dramatically and pointed to it. “Who’s there, Magnus? Who’s at the door?” She chuckled and kissed Magnus’ cheek. He still wasn’t having any of it. “Let’s go see who it is, baby.” He rested his head on her shoulder again as she went to open the door, and she smiled as she saw Peeta on their doorstep.
“Hey, Peets,” she said, motioning for him to come inside. “Come on in. Sorry for the grumpy kid. I woke him from his nap and I think he’s mad at me.”
It had been a few weeks since the last time he had seen Laurel. Time always moved too quickly and things were changing just as fast. She had been upset and angry last time and now she was back with Titus and things seemed back to normal. Peeta made a note not to bring it up in case it was still a sore subject. He would much prefer to keep the days visit as a happy one.
Peeta had been hiding away too much himself recently. It had just been him, Buddy and Katniss watching entire TV show series and movie marathons. Even the short walk and fresh air felt like it was reinvigorating him. He was especially excited about using a real kitchen again.
Like always, Peeta took the stairs to Laurel and Titus’s penthouse apartment and knocked quickly on the door. It didn’t take long for Laurel to open the door with a very grumpy looking Magnus asleep on his shoulder. “Hey sissy.” He said with a small smile.
For some reason, Peeta always felt the need to talk quietly around Magnus, especially if he was grumpy. “Hey munchkin.” Peeta reached out to take Magnus’s hand and pretended to shake it, trying to get a smile out of him.
Hey, my favorite color is blue, Peets! I know I’m tough but I don’t know about manly. Hm, that’s true. Right now he gets all upset if I leave, so I guess he isn’t sick of me yet. I sure hope he’s gonna love me forever since I, you know, carried him for nine months and gave birth to him and all that. But baking is an excellent trait, and one that you’ll have to teach him once he’s older. I know, I know. But he won’t be a little baby for much longer and it makes me kind of sad.
And you’re telling me you’re not even a tiny bit manly? Of course he does. You’re his momma. He’s always going to look to you for comfort and check that things are alright and because you’re a good momma, you’re going to be there for him. I reckon he is only going to want to learn to impress a girl but I’m happy to be there for him when he does. It’s okay just take lots of photos now.
I think he would like that. That’s the color that his nursery is painted. Well yeah. He definitely sees us most, and probably me more than anyone else. I’m surprised he’s not sick of me yet. But he loves me. I change his diapers and feed him, so he had better. I wouldn’t be surprised if Xavier teaches him to knit. Ugh, I know. He has to get older. It makes me sad to think about it.
It’s a boy colour. We like blues and manly things like blue. Laurel, he’s only six months old. I don’t think babies start getting sick of you until they can at least walk and talk. He’s gonna love you for a long time. You’re his momma. Knitting is a good trait. I wish I knew how to, all I got is baking. Don’t think about it too much. He’s still got a long way to go.
I think he likes the color blue so we can try that. He’d sure get a kick out of it. Well yeah, but I didn’t expect for his personality to be so much like ours already. Yeah, he’s so small and is still developing as a person. His face is still to chubby to tell who he really looks like, so I can’t really tell yet but I think he looks a lot like Titus, even though people say he looks like me. You know, I can already see him being exactly like my brother Magnus. He’s already really silly just like him.
Blue is a great choice. I can even try and match the sky. A nice sort of light blue. I suppose he mimic’s what he sees and he sees you and Titus more than anyone else. If he starts knitting jumpers, he’s been around Xavier too long. It will all change though. He’ll loose his baby cheeks and get taller and then there is puberty. That changes a lot too.
Yep, cake always makes everything better. Hm, alright. Vanilla it is. He’ll like it either way, if he’s anything like me which I’m starting to think he is. It’s so adorable, he really is like a mini version of Titus and me. He imitates Titus all the time and makes my own faces back at me. He has his own little personality but he’s so much like the two of us.
Vanilla is always a good starter and we can make it colourful for him. Of course he is like you and Titus, he is your spawn and genetically made up of the both of you. It’s gonna be so much fun watching him grow up and changing.
Yeah, I don’t really think his brain knows how to think of the future just yet. He still freaks out when I leave the room because when he can’t see me, I don’t exist. Exactly! Aaand I might want to settle the debate between me and Titus about what kind of cake he’ll like better.
Well you know what will help that, cake! Cake makes everything better. Hmm… I think being so young, we should probably start with vanilla. I don’t think baby’s taste buds are quite ready for red velvet yet.
