Work Text:
“Peeta,” Katniss says. “I want you to teach me how to paint.”
Her husband wakes up confused, blearily rubbing his eyes open as he processes what she’s saying.
They moved to the small lakeside cabin by her father’s lake, now their lake, two years after the war. In the year since, they’ve made a true home there, renovating the cabin and adopting a small menagerie of farm animals. They’ve never been happier or more free than they are at their haven by the water, and though they share several hobbies together, such as gardening, she’s never expressed interest in art before.
But Peeta’s never been able to deny his wife anything, even during the years when he wasn’t sure if she could ever love him, so he agrees.
An exuberant Katniss bounds out of bed, slipping on a skirt and boots and heading out the door. She’s only wearing her brassiere, but it doesn’t matter; there’s no one to see them out in their secluded neck of the woods.
Peeta slips on a shirt and pants, grabbing his easel, paint set, and a blank canvas and following her out the door.
He sets up a painting spot for her at the edge of the water, where there’s endless inspiration. He shows her, patiently, how to use a brush, laughing with her once they realize she doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body.
It doesn’t matter, though- Katniss could fling paint at the canvas and he’d think it was perfect. Because out here, with her, nothing matters. Nothing but the freedom they fought so hard for, and the love they share.