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#halloween!Everlark
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You open the door and feel a breeze of wind. You notice me, dressed as the inflatable tube dancer doing my unathletic best to move around. You hear me panting: Trick or Treat!
How do you think the Everdeens celebrated Halloween in their childhood? Could be both THG or Modern AU!
Special request: A Katniss and Prim moodboard around the topic :) If not, maybe give me some of your favourite quotes around autumn/Halloween!
Love your costume! 🎃
For THG, since I don't see them having Halloween necessarily, I'll go with the Harvest Festival as their seasonal way to celebrate fall and throw in an everlark fic rec for Coal Dark by dandeliononfire, which is set during D12's fall festival.
Modern AU: for Katniss (in high school) and Prim (in middle school), I'm seeing an au where Katniss is not super into it herself b/c she's focused on school, helping to take care of Prim and probably a part-time job (who has extra money to spend on a costume or time to make one, who wants to spend their time at a Halloween party with all the jerks from high school). But Prim loves it, so of course Katniss helps make whatever costume she's into that year, combo DIY, thrifting and maybe splurging for an accessory or something they can't make themselves.
And when Madge does force Katniss to go with her to a party, she buys black cat ears/tail off amazon for 9.99 and wears it with black leggings and t-shirt, the least effort possible. Shows up at the party only to lock eyes with Peeta Mellark, who she's had a crush on forever. And Peeta has had a crush on her forever, and unfortunately didn't expect her to come, and Finnick had convinced him to dress with him as the SNL dick in the box guys and he thinks he's blown it before they even talk, but she actually thinks it's pretty funny and they end up chatting the whole evening...and maybe Katniss changes her mind about Halloween! :) 🍬🍫🍬
I will try to add a mood board later!
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displayheartcode · 2 years
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Seneca Crane’s farmland is a sacred hunting ground. The dead rise on Halloween night only to be hunted by the living to stave off their nearing demises, but someone has changed the rules.
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behold! the spooky (unedited) everlark fic!
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broken-everlark · 1 year
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OKAY new Halloween fic is here! 🎃 I hope you guys and gals like it!🧡💚💙❤️
You Can't Escape Me.
Peeta and Katniss are loosely based off of Corey and Allyson from Halloween kills 🤷‍♂️ all I can say.
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lemonluvgirl · 1 year
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New fic aesthetic ✨️
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I made this for the Fall/Halloween fic I have coming out soon. Let me know what yall think and maybe I'll post a sneak peek tonight! 👀
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vixnarts · 3 months
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Headcanons for Everlark and others:
Peeta is a massive cuddle bug and loves to hug Katniss while he's sleeping 🥺
Peeta can do Donald Duck's and Mickey Mouse voices, which is Katniss's favorite thing.
Johanna Mason is a lesbian-ace thang
Finnick Odair is a bisexual thang that enjoys fishing on Saturdays. Singing Wellerman by Nathan Evans
Katniss hates highschool drama and popular school girls because they're annoying.
Peeta hates drama.. period..
Katniss's favorite seasons are autumn, spring, and summer. She's okay with winter but isn't a big fan.
Peeta loves Christmas because he gets to bake his favorite things.
Katniss hates Halloween, she isn't a fan of horror.
Peeta loves Halloween but understands completely why Katniss doesn't love or celebrate the holiday.
Finnick loves Greek mythology and Roman mythology (some of it is pretty much the same.. I hate Ancient Rome lol)
Katniss loves painting and Peeta is a very good art teacher.
Gale enjoys the quiet and sitting near a waterfall, feeling the water and cool air hit him. He enjoys this in the summer and late spring.
What are your headcanons of Everlark or everyone else? Feel free to reblog and comment below!
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little-lynx · 1 year
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Hello guys! I’m alive (ok, I’m not sure about that to be honest). October was not kind to me both mentally and physically but I’m not here today to whine. I’m trying hard (so, SO hard!) to get back to working condition and to force my hands to draw properly again. Hope I will succeed soon.
I miss you guys so much. This place is one of a few where I feel myself comfortable and safe. My own head is not such a place now unfortunately. I hope to be back as soon as possible.
Super quick vampire!Everlark sketch for you ❤️ happy Halloween 🎃
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thesweetnessofspring · 6 months
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Trick or Treat!!!
Prompt: Katniss and Peeta trying to have their first Halloween post-rebellion.
(Could be moodboars, drabble, headcanons, etc..) 🧡🖤🧡
I don't think Panem (or at least D12) have Halloween, but I have a little something for Everlark in their first autumn post-rebellion.
First, some music for ya:
Our bedroom has gotten colder these past few weeks, but we don't shut the window. Peeta emanates enough heat to keep us warm under our blankets. When my nose gets cold, I bury my head into his neck and warm up right against his skin.
This morning, my nose buried between his neck and our pillow, I'm between the place of a rare pleasant dream and the grounded reality of Peeta's arms around me. And something in me is so grateful for him, I give him a kiss on his collarbone.
He stirs under me and asks in his deep, groggy morning voice, "Katniss?"
I hadn't thought of him feeling the kiss and I wonder if I should be self-conscious of what I just did. We've been sharing a bed since the start of summer, but we hadn't kissed one another yet. A lot holding each other, hands wiping away tears, but nothing to give way to what we had been that night on the beach.
I pull back and hope not to talk about it. Even hope that maybe he'll question if it was his own pleasant dream.
"I have a surprise for you," I say. "But you have to get up and get dressed."
"What's the surprise?" he asks.
"That's not how surprises work," I say as I pull back the covers and sit up. "Get dressed. Sturdy shoes and warm."
He doesn't ask any more questions as he goes to the closet to pick out his clothes while I go to the bathroom to change into mine. From there, I go to the kitchen and prepare two thermoses of hot tea, one with a spoonful of sugar and one unsweetened. I'd prepared both of our bags the night before and give Peeta his.
Outside, our hands automatically find one another as we walk in the dark autumn morning. The rest of the district continues to sleep, the skeletons of buildings in the middle of their construction waiting for the workers to return.
We walk past the Seam, past the meadow, and past the apple trees we'd spent last week gathering to make apple fritters. The palest sunbeams filter through the forest's trees, dark pines and autumnal oak.
Peeta's grip tightens. "You're bringing me in here?"
"It's safe," I say. "I'll make sure you stay safe."
"It's not that," he says. "I guess I've always thought of this as your place. Yours and...his."
"It's anyone's who wants it to be theirs now," I say. "And I want to show it to you."
He acquiesces and follows me into the forest. I keep an eye on him. Even without a fence or Peacekeepers enforcing the perimeter, few people have braved the woods. Yet Peeta takes it all in with round, awed eyes. Sometimes I can sense he wants to stop and pause, but I keep us moving until we reach the rock ledge looking out to the crests of mountains and the spine of the valley below. The sun has illuminated the land with morning honey light, filtering through a distant mist. It is a dappled mixture of deep green pine trees, yellow-leaved birches, orange-leaved oaks.
I've seen it every fall for years, so instead I take in Peeta's face as he faces a scenery entirely new to him. Yesterday he'd been admiring a single leaf from the oak tree at the entrance of Victors Village and I knew then he had to see this place of unimaginable, untouched beauty, blooming with the season's colors. And he doesn't disappoint. A long puff of a cloud emerges from his lips parted in wonder and the corners of his mouth peak up.
"This is beautiful," he says.
"I put your travelling paints in your backpack," I say. "In case you want to paint it."
"I most definitely do."
I get out the food I'd packed in my bag while Peeta prepares his watercolors and paper and gets to working. I've divided up the breakfast of raisin bread, candied pecans, and apples onto two plates but I've finished all of mine before Peeta looks up from his colors to nibble on his own. I sip my tea and simply watch the sun rise over the ridges and Peeta's hands dabble color onto his paper.
When he's finished he sets it aside to dry a little as he finishes his breakfast and sits back.
"I'd seen these colors on the mountains around us, but I could never imagine what it'd be like to look down on them," Peeta says.
"There's still a lot of beauty for us to see," I say.
"I don't know what I could possibly show you," he says.
I think of what I can't put into words. Hope. Light. Warmth. The beauty Peeta gives me every day is so much more precious than this view, even if it's all I have to offer him in return.
Instead, I lean forward and kiss him on the cheek so he knows this isn't a dream.
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Summary:
After a difficult first year at Nevermore, Wednesday agrees to attend the Halloween Ball with Tyler.
Rating: General Audiences
Archive Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: Halloween, WydayThe13th, Phantom of the Opera references, Soft Wednesday Addams, Wednesday Addams is Soft for Tyler Galpin, Wednesday Addams is Trying, Hyde Tyler Galpin, Soft Tyler Galpin, Tyler Galpin Needs a Hug, Minor Ajax Petropolus/Enid Sinclair, Fluff, Comfort, Cheesy, Musical References, Oneshot, Author is a Tyler Galpin Apologist
SO I FINALLY FINISHED IT!! I honestly feel like i kind of hyped it up too much LOL but i'm just so happy and grateful I wrote it all, especially since I've been having a writer's block for months now. Thank the fact that I've been looping Phantom of the Opera for days now for the existence of this fic! I admit I might be a little out of practice writing Wednesday and the other chars, but better a little OOC than nothing imo!
Also I hope u don't mind how cheesy it gets LOL. It is a fluff fic after all!
Thank you again @bithablu for organizing this!! It was so much fun to join even if I was really late LMAO. Thank you @nouklea, @thee-antler-queen, @wednesdayandherhyde, @nonamemanga, @broken-everlark, @gardenoblues and @rhysthomas02 for encouraging me as well!! (whether it be directly or through likes LOL)
Also if anyone wants to draw Tyler and Wednesday in their costumes (or even Ajax and Enid) pls feel free and pls tag me if u do it would be so beautiful
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charlunday · 6 months
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As soon as you open the door, it’s freezingly cold. I stand before you, hiding a portable AC underneath my cape. My too-white too-plastic vampire teeth lurk from my smile: Trick or Treat!
Do you think the Harvest Festival is part of the autumn season? Do you think it has some of the autumn festivities that Thanksgiving has?
As for a special request, if you are interested: Maybe a doodle of Everlark carving pumpkins or Peeta making some Halloween cakes for the bakery :)
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Not exactly what you asked for, but I started drawing his hands and got carried away.
As for the harvest festival, it always seemed weird to me because it doesn't look like there's much to harvest in District 12? But whatever. Like you'd think 11 or 9 would have the real harvest festival. What are they harvesting in 12? Coal? Want to eat some coal? Anyway. I know that's not the answer you were looking for either. 😭 So here's some candy and please don't trick me:
🍭🍭🍭
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wellgoslowly · 1 year
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LOCKWOOD AND CO FANS!
pls use these links to sign the petitions to save lockwood and co. even if ur a casual enjoyer or pseudo-fan, anything helps.
for anyone wondering how to help that cannot participate in the online rallying, check out this post.
link to the google site link to the padlet
NOTICED BY JONATHAN 8/21/23
get to know me!
--‐------------
the basics:
♡ my name is linnie!! you can call me linnie, linnifer, or lin, I don't really care :)
♧ I'm nonbinary! my pronouns are they/she
◇ american (sadly), not a minor {19}
♤ bi, demiromantic, greysexual
♡ adhd and anxiety plus some autism for a treat
□ baby witch to the utmost degree/semi closeted witch
☆ requests are open!! my masterlist :)
¤ do not feed my writing to ai for endings!!!!! do not do anything w ai regarding my writing unless I give explicit permission!!!!
▫️I make edits!! any edits that I've posted on here generally have the hashtag linnifer edits, but you can find a lot of my stuff on tiktok! my editing acc on tiktok is kizmoneyedits- be nice tho, some of my older stuff isn't the best :)
---------
my interests:
<> currently watching one piece!
♡ currently violently obsessed with lockwood and co and stardew valley but my hyperfixations include, and are not limited to: future man, warrior nun, the grishaverse, the hunger games, the magnus archives, the charlotte holmes series, willow [1988/2022] pride and prejudice [2005], fnaf, and the osemanverse!
▪︎ my favorite ships: locklyle, avatrice, kanej, wesper, jonmart, narlie, everlark [peeniss forever], charlottejamie, tanthamore, and more! also im a huge graylora truther sorry not sorry
▫️favorite music artists: the crane wives, Taylor swift, LAUNDRY DAY, the front bottoms, lemon demon, one direction, baby queen, [OLD] panic!at the disco (fuck you brendan urie), the vamps, TV girl, mother mother, arctic monkeys, ABBA, tyler the creator, and more!
♧ I love mushrooms and rats!! mushrooms are one of my special interests and I'm going to be a rat owner soon!!
◇ I'm currently studying social work and english in college!! I also currently work at a daycare center so I post a lot abt that :)
♤ biggest tumblr achievement is creating the grocery store incident lore w/ mayra <3 #longlivegsi
this is the link to the og post
linnie face reveal/lucy carlyle costume
lucy cosplay 4 halloween
☆ allie is my british mom and mayra is my british sister
¤ I'd love to be mutuals!!! I've heard I'm a very good mutual- if needed I can give a resume and references:)
that's all!! if yall have any more questions, my dms and asks are open!!
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broken-everlark · 2 years
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Hi! Does anyone want to be a beta for my Halloween fic?
I just want to know how beta feels about the (open ending) that I tried to leave! It's my first one and it's hard 🤣😖 just before I post it
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loungemermaid · 6 months
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You open the door. I’m dressed as the guy from ratatouille. Next to me is the largest dog you’ve ever seen dressed in a rat costume. I say: Trick or treat!
What kind of cakes do you think Peeta did around the autumn and Halloween season? You can describe them or just throw in Pinterest pics!
Special request: Give me an Everlark themed autumn moodboard! Or, alternatively, a book/movie recommendation for the season :)
Aaahh this is so fun!! For the cakes he definitely makes spice cakes. Think gingerbread but, well, cake!
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They don’t always have caramel, but I wanted it to be a little bit extra. It is Peeta making it after all.
Also there needs to be pecan everything. Pie, cookies, chocolate covered pecans, candied pecans on everything. I am a slut for pumpkin of course but also pecan is severely underrated and deeply southern.
Surprisingly hard to find blonde men/brunette women couples on Pinterest so this is a faceless moodboard but!! I focused on vibes and added some slight Appalachian folk magic. Also, extra special Halloween cheese buns because obvi
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alwaysmypearl · 1 year
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drabble prompt: “listen, i love you, but really?”
hi anon! thanks so much for the prompt! You gave me so many ideas with this one. I think I got a little carried away- but I hope it fulfills what you’re looking for!
Buckle up for some post mockingjay married Everlark goodness
Oh, and happy late halloween ;)
Katniss POV
It is late October in a peaceful District 12, as I make my way home from the woods to Peeta and I’s house. Though I’ve always loved the warmth of spring, I have grown fond of autumn. The air is crisp and smells fresh, the leaves are changing, and though the air is not warm- the people seem warmer.
Peeta adores autumn. He’s always loved the cooler air, and he is always trying out new recipes. He usually bakes with cinnamon, since it’s one of his family’s go-to spices, but I’m beginning to think he bathes in cinnamon now. And then drizzles it all over our house.
Though my husband is supposed to be running the bakery, I hear the clanging of pots and pans and off-tune humming from the kitchen as I approach our front door. After knocking the dirt from my boots and removing them, I step inside.
Instead of seeing Peeta, I see pumpkins. Hordes of them. They are in our entry way, in the living room, and they cover the dining room table.
What is he up to?
“Uh...Peeta?”
“Oh! You’re back! I’m in the kitchen, love.”
I meander my way through the pumpkin maze Peeta seems to have built, and see him at the far kitchen counter. His back is to me, and he is cutting through the top of yet another pumpkin with a very large knife.
“Okay, I think I’m missing something, Mellark.”
Peeta puts down the knife, wipes his hands on his apron, and faces me with a lopsided grin.
“So I may have gotten carried away. Not only me- Effie too.��
“Of course Effie had a hand in this.” I grumble. I adore our former escort, but I do not enjoy her habits of excess.
“Just listen to the whole story, it will make sense.”
I lean against the counter with my arms crossed to listen.
“So, you know all of those books Effie sends me?” I nod. “Well, there were a few books about the Old World, you know, before Panem. Turns out, they had a holiday called Halloween. I’m not totally sure what the point was, the book didn’t really explain, but anyway- It’s kind of like Harvest Festival. A celebration of fall. Except there are a lot of sweets. And everyone dresses up in costumes.”
“Like Capitol people?” I interject.
“Mm-not really. Mostly characters from books and television. And kids go door to door in their District and get treats from their neighbors! They all share-“
“Where do the pumpkins come in, Peeta?”
“Oh yeah! They decorate their houses and they used pumpkins to do it sometimes! They would carve faces in the fruit and then put a light in them, they were called jack-o-lanterns. So I got inspired. I realized that we didn’t really have a Harvest Festival anymore, and I just wanted to spread some joy to people. Haymitch might even help me plan the festival, but first I wanted to deliver a jack-o-lantern to everyone.”
Typical Peeta. Giving people hope. Spreading warmth to the people in our District.
“So I’m guessing you told this to Effie and-“
“Yeah, she sent a few more than I needed. But that just means everyone gets more than one.”
He picks at the curls at the nape of his neck nervously, waiting for my response.
“Peeta Mellark, listen, I love you, but really?”
“We have the money and the time. Why not use it for something fun? If anyone deserves a little frivolous fun, it’s 12.”
I groan and rub my face with both hands. He has a point. He always does.
“I know, I’m a little crazy aren’t I?”
I cross the kitchen with a shy smile on my face. I lean against him and rest both hands on his chest, and his arms encircle me as I stare up at him.
“You are a little crazy. But hey, I married you anyway didn’t I?”
He chuckles and pecks my lips. “Thank God you did, or else who would help me with all of these pumpkins?”
“Oh no, I married you for the bread, not the carving.”
“I was already planning to make every pumpkin treat you could imagine. My wife doesn’t like waste, you know. I’m not throwing out anything.” I raise my eyebrows.
“Every treat I could imagine, hm?”
“You name it, I’ll make it. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes, roasted seeds, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies- I bet i could make pumpkin jam even.”
“Pumpkin jam? Now you’ve gone too far.” I start to pull out of his embrace, but he holds me tightly against his chest, vibrating with laughter.
“Okay, okay, no jam, just please help me. You’re good with a knife.”
“First treats and now compliments to butter me up? I see how it is, Mellark.”
“I have a lot of methods for getting you to give in. You’ve gotten softer over the years, Katniss.” He lightly tickles my sides, and I struggle to swat him away.
When the tickling stops. I roll my eyes. Now he has resorted to the “puppy eyes” method- which just means he pouts out his lip in a certain way, and stares down at me with the softest baby blues he can muster. It’s so adorable it makes me want to squeeze him. And kiss that pouty lip. And strangle him.
“Fine. But you owe me. And you have to carve the face, mine aren’t going to look right, I’m sure of it.”
“You’ll get every pumpkin treat that exists- I promise. Maybe even some other favors if you’re lucky.”
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thesweetnessofspring · 6 months
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You open the door. You see nothing. You walk a bit further to see who is there when you hear “You here to finish me off, sweetheart?” Right when you notice my eyes between brown mud, I say: Trick or Treat!
What are some autumn/Halloween activities Everlark would love to do together? (Panem or Modern, or both!)
Special request: Give me some brief drabble of them doing one of those activities :> Alternatively, tell me about a current WIP and give me a line from there :)
Well let's get this party started! 🎃 First some music:
In Panem, Everlark is certainly in the forest foraging nuts and apples and their garden is filled with pumpkin and corn. They're baking fall treats with the toast babies and cuddling up by the fire at night. They are all about the coziness of the season.
For a modern Everlark, here's a short-ish high school AU:
“What next, little duck?” I ask Prim over the din of the crowd. Her gaze catches Annie Cresta’s face, which has been painted with scales and starfish and shells, giving the senior the appearance of a mermaid, especially factoring in her long, wavy brown hair.
Prim has been staring at people with painted faces all night, and it’s eating away at me. The high school’s Harvest Festival is technically free. Each student gets 100 tickets to play games and can purchase more if they want to keep going. But this event is also an opportunity for fundraising for the school’s clubs and sports teams, so not everything is free, including the face painting. We’ve been smelling kettle corn and hot dogs all evening but not purchased any, sharing the free 100 tickets between the two of us, and passed by the chance to put Principal Coin in the dunk tank. The face painting is the one thing I catch her still wanting.
I can’t stand Prim’s silent longing and think about the $10 bill I have in my back pocket as my “just in case” money. More like just in case we get stranded and need bus money home. But it’s just one night…
“Hm, how about we go to the bean bag toss?” Prim says.
I take her hand in mine and say, “Actually, I have a surprise.”
We squeeze through the pressing crowds until I make out the blue pop-up tent with a colorfully painted sign decorated with monarch butterflies, pumpkins, princesses, and flowers reading: Face Painting 
There’s a line and I plant Prim and I in it.
“Oh Katniss, are you sure?” Prim asked. Ever since our dad’s accident, our finances have been tight and spending money on something like face painting was frivolous for our family even before that happened.
“It’s the Harvest Festival,” I say. “We can have some fun.”
She gives me a hug around my waist and I squeeze her tight. Then I notice the face painters they have working right now. Two are kids who live off of 6th Street and are total stoners. I can’t remember their names. The other one, though, is only the sophomore class’s golden boy himself, Peeta Mellark. 
What he’s doing here and not flirting with girls while scooping out popcorn with the rest of the football team, I don’t know. I check the signs at the booth and sure enough, this one is fundraising for the drama department. I didn’t know Peeta was even in the drama department. The football and wrestling team, sure, but drama?
I watch as Peeta dabs a sponge with red paint over a little boy’s face, smiling and chatting to him as his hands work. Then he uses a brush to create webbed lines, creating a half-Spiderman mask onto the boy’s forehead and eyes. And I’m surprised at how good he is for a high school boy. 
Then Peeta turns to the line, which Prim and I are at the front of and I’m jolted like I’ve been caught staring at him. And I guess I have been, technically, only there had been something so fascinating about watching him paint. He smiles and waves us over to the seat now empty of the Spiderman.
“Hi,” Peeta says. “What are you getting done today?”
Prim’s eyes skate over the pictures hung up with examples of what they can get done. There’s a lot of Halloween stuff–cats, bats, spiders, witches, ghosts, pumpkins. Then some generic ones–superheroes, princesses, animals, mermaids.
“Are these all of the choices?” Prim asks.
“If you’re willing to take a chance I could go off-book for you,” he offers. 
Prim considers this and I want to warn her of the risk of being disappointed if it doesn’t turn out, but I also don’t want to insult Peeta. His Spiderman was pretty phenomenal, so I let her make the choice without my interference.
“Can I get a dragon?” Prim asks.
“Sure thing,” Peeta says, “What color?”
Prim and Peeta talk a little about how she wants her pink dragon done and then as Peeta starts working on her face, discuss Prim’s most recent obsession–dragon books. The library is one of the few places we can go now and have stuff to do without worrying about money and she’s been eating up everything she can read with dragons. Peeta patiently listens as she describes her most recent read, a little dent between his eyebrows as he concentrates on the sweeping details of Prim’s dragon face painting.
“There you go,” Peeta says, handing her a mirror. 
“Oh! It’s like it’s going to fly off of my face!” Prim laughs. I peek over her shoulder to get a look and while it’s not that realistic, the wings that spread over Prim’s eyes and the dragon head with silver horns on her forehead, the ribbed body and tail down her nose, are a true work of art. I feel bad it’s going to get washed away.
“Glad you like it,” Peeta says. Then he turns to me and asks, “Did you want one, too, Katniss?”
I shouldn’t be surprised he knows my name–we’ve been in enough classes together over the past ten years–but I can’t remember a time he’s used it before.
“We’re only getting the one,” I say and reach my hand out with the $10 bill.
“I can make it a sister special, two for one,” Peeta says.
I bristle and give my hand a jerk to insist he take the money. “We don’t need any charity, thanks.”
“Katniss,” Prim admonishes. She’s always the polite one and that’s why I have to be the protective one, to make sure she doesn’t get taken advantage of.
“No, no, it’s just…uh…my ex is the next in line and I…it’s a little awkward right now,” he says, giving me a sheepish smile. “You’d really be helping me out if you stayed so she got Jason or Gianna instead.”
I know who he’s talking about, but I peek out the corner of my eye to make sure. Glimmer Erikson. They’d started dating over summer apparently, something about concurrent football and cheerleader practices bringing them together. A big upset happened two weeks ago at homecoming when he broke up with her at the dance. I’d overhead some other kids talking that Glimmer had been ready to pick a fight with Clove Sanchez for grinding up on Glimmer’s ex Cato, and she ended up punching Peeta when he tried to stop her from getting physical. 
And I don’t know why I know any of this, but I feel some sort of strange need to protect Peeta right now, more than my own pride. I sit down and take Prim’s spot on the chair directly in front of Peeta. He gives me a relieved smile and asks, “So, what do you want?”
“Oh, um…” I look at all of the options, but none of them really feel like me. Princesses? Superheroes? Pumpkins? I look to Prim, but even she’s stumped, the dragon’s wings on her face compressing as she squints her eyes to consider the options.
“I can go off-book for you, too,” Peeta says.
And I know from Prim’s face he’s more than capable. I shrug. “I don’t know what I want. Maybe…surprise me?”
“Really?” he brightens up at my invitation.
“Sure,” I say, then amend, “Just no cats. I get that enough with my name.”
He laughs. “Don’t have to explain that to me.”
I give him an unexpected smile. Peeta, the baker’s son. Yes, he would certainly understand. 
He gives his head a little tilt, scanning my face, and then picks up a sponge with orange face paint and lightly dabs it over my cheeks and nose.
“How’d you end up doing this?” I ask. “Aren’t you on the football team?”
“I paint the sets for the drama department,” Peeta says. “And they need the help more than the football team anyway.”
“Oh, I didn’t know…” I say. “Did you do those mountains for The Sound of Music last spring?”
I hadn’t gone to the show, but the backdrops were up on the stage for months while we had a million anti-drug, anti-bullying, anti-drinking-and-driving assemblies to sit through. I’d ended up staring at those backdrops to keep some kind of sanity, imagining myself hiking along them with the trees and the fresh breeze.
“I helped. Jason and Gianna worked on it, too,” he says and switches over to a brush, dipping it in brown paint and lightly brushing it along my temple. “We’re doing Beauty and the Beast in the spring this year. You should audition.”
“What?” I ask. I had to work a part-time job at Subway after school. I didn’t have time to dance around a stage. 
“You have a beautiful voice,” he says. “In elementary school, when we had those music classes? You always sang so much better than everyone else. I think even the birds outside stopped to listen to you.”
He remembers that, so long ago? 
“He is right,” Prim says. “You would be the perfect Belle.”
I scoff. “Too bad I’m a terrible actor.”
“It’s a high school show,” Peeta says. “Trust me, if you don’t make the audience’s ears bleed they’ll take you.”
I don’t pursue this path of the conversation further, feeling ganged up on with Prim and Peeta trying to get me into the drama department. Instead I take notice of Peeta’s large hands with the delicate little brush, focusing on one part of my face and then another while he dabbles on reds and yellows and oranges and browns. I have no idea what he’s putting on my face, but even without Prim standing there watching him work, I trust that he’s not going to do anything to embarrass me like some other boys would have done.
“Finished,” Peeta says and hands me the mirror. I let out a little gasp. Along the left side of my face he’s painted a tree trunk with its branches extending out along my forehead, dappled with autumn leaves on the branches and down below along my cheekbones and nose that were lightly dusted with a misty orange as the backdrop for the leaves. It’s not the garish, intense painting of the provided options, but a soft, delicate work worthy of its own frame.
“Like it?” he asks, a little cocky. It’s clear that I’m in awe of it.
“It’s beautiful,” I say. 
“Well anytime you want a facepaint,” he says, “I don’t charge friends.”
Friends? I wonder. But I don’t have time to think of it as the next person is coming up behind my chair. I give Peeta the $10 and get pulled back into the crowd of the Harvest Festival with Prim. We take a dozen pictures of our facepaint together and, when Prim insists, separately. And even though we have the memory preserved, I can’t stand to wash it off that night, carefully laying on my back before falling asleep so I can see it again in the morning.         
Katniss's face paint inspo:
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