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Katniss wakes up to the sound of rain outside.
It’s late afternoon. She and Peeta are curled up in his room, his arms wrapped around her waist, her head tucked snug underneath his chin.
It’s peaceful. Quiet.
Safe.
Peeta’s chest rises and falls gently, indicating that he’s fast asleep, and when Katniss pulls back slightly to study his face, she’s met with the sight of his lightly tanned features and blonde curls pooling onto the pillow underneath his head.
He looks lovely like this she thinks; soft and sweet as his hand brushes against the small of her back unconsciously. When she shifts, Peeta's arms tighten around her almost imperceptibly, and Katniss allows herself to melt a little further into his embrace.
She should stay here, Katniss thinks. Warm and cosy and held gently to Peeta's chest.
But she can hear the rain outside, and something in the back of her mind is urging her to go and see for herself.
So slowly, carefully, Katniss untangles herself from Peeta, making an effort to not disturb his peaceful sleep. Once she’s off the bed, she pads barefoot out of the room, downstairs and into the hallway.
She slips through the door to stand in the porch, watching the rain for a while before sticking her arm out into it tentatively. Katniss finds that it's not harsh or cold on her arm. It’s that sweet summer rain, where the air feels warm and dewy against her skin. It makes Katniss feel reborn again and throws her back into a memory she thought she’d lost.
Prim used to love rain like this.
“Katniss! Katniss, come outside!”
“Prim, it’s raining.”
“But it’s summer rain,” Prim replies cheekily as she spins around the small meadow by their house. Her dress becoming absolutely drenched as the rain hits it.
Katniss calls out to her sister, “You’ll catch a cold.”
Prim giggles, sticks her tongue out, and blows a raspberry.
“No I won’t- and if I do, Mama will make me feel better.”
Katniss lets her mind drift over to their mother for a second. Or rather, the ghost of their mother that hasn't gotten out of bed in two weeks. A spectre that seems to walk through the walls of their house, disappearing whenever anyone gets too close. Katniss doesn’t think their mother would be in any state to help Prim if she got ill, but she keeps it to herself.
She won’t scar her sister's joy with a reminder of their despondent mother.
Then, Prim appears right in front of her- muddy feet and sopping plaits and a grin that makes Katniss soften a little.
“Come, Katniss,” her little sister pulls her into the rain. “Dance with me.”
Before she knows it, Katniss is stepping down into the middle of the Victors Village - surrounded by all the flowers that Peeta has planted; marigolds, daisies, primroses. It almost feels as if Prim is calling out to her, like if Katniss listens hard enough; she can still hear her younger sister's peals of laughter.
The earth is wet under her feet, and her shorts and top begin to stick to her body as the rain soaks them through, but Katniss can’t find it in herself to care.
She shuts her eyes tight and imagines her little sister.
Bright blue eyes, rosy cheeks, warm hands.
Her little duck.
Katniss begins to dance- slowly at first, awkwardness stopping her from letting go completely. But then she picks up the pace. She starts spinning, around and around, unable to get rid of the smile that she can feel on her lips when she does so.
“Dance, Katniss! Dance!”
Katniss starts with the intention of pulling Prim back under the relative shelter that their rickety house provides. But once her little sister’s soft hands find hers, Katniss becomes unable to go back inside.
Instead, she spins around, letting Prim tug her back and forth gleefully, the rain soaking both of them through.
Prim sings and laughs and squeals when Katniss grabs her by the waist and throws her up in the air, Katniss can feel a smile begin to splay itself across her own face. She feels happy, infinite almost. And for a moment, just for a moment, she forgets all about the ghost in the back bedroom, the hunger crawling in her stomach, the worry she keeps laced tightly around her ribcage.
Gale, her mother, her father. It all disappears.
Katniss knows that Prim wants to be a healer when she grows up- that her little sister wants to spend her life making remedies to help others. But sometimes moment like this make Katniss wonder if Prim herself is the remedy.
Heaven sent, dragging Katniss out of all her fear and worry. Grabbing her older sister's coarse hands and pulling her into the rain to dance of all things.
Katniss pulls Prim’s lithe frame impossibly close, pressing her to her chest.
“I love you, Prim. So much.”
She doesn’t know where it comes from, honestly. Confessions of love are rare for her- even around the people she cares about most. But when Prim steps up on her tiptoes and presses her lips against Katniss’s cheek, the older girl feels warmth spread over her body despite the pouring rain.
“I love you too. You, and mama, and Buttercup, and Lady.”
They stay out in the rain for a while longer. Katniss finds herself laughing as they spin around and when they finally go back inside - panting from the movement and shivering from the cold - Katniss still hasn't stopped laughing.
That night, she sneaks into Prim's bed and curls around her sister's sleepy frame.
"I love you, little duck." Katniss whispers it into the darkness like a prayer.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
“Katniss?” Peeta's voice tugs her out of the memory.
When she looks over her shoulder Peeta is standing a few meters away, shielding his face from the rain with a raised arm. He's still wearing the crumpled shirt from before, and his sweatpants are swung low enough on his hips to reveal a strip of smooth, golden skin.
On any other day, Katniss would feel all the blood rush to her face at the sight.
But today is not like other days. Today she is light and carefree, a vessel of her younger sister.
So instead of averting her eyes and looking away, Katniss turns so she’s face to face with him and smiles.
“Are you alright?” Peeta’s words are soft.
Katniss nods, surer of it than she has been in a while.
“It’s raining!”
There’s a smile stuck on her face that she can’t seem to dislodge and Peeta smiles too as he gazes down at her tenderly from the porch.
“Yeah, sweetheart. It is.”
Her heart flips at the pet name like it’s the first time he’s ever said it.
She calls out to him. “Come down here?”
Peeta nods and steps down to meet her, hands finding a place around her waist.
Katniss burrows into him, pressing her head against his chest and listening intently as his heart beats against her ear.
“Sure you’re okay?”
His question is quiet but it still reaches her as they sway against each other.
Katniss nods again against his chest.
“I’m okay.”
Then she pulls away a little and looks up at him.
“Prim is here.”
Peeta looks down at her a little confused- concern dusting over his features.
“Prim?”
Katniss nods firmly. Then she takes Peeta’s larger hand in hers and places it above her heart.
“Here,” she whispers. “Prim is here.”
Instantly, Peeta’s features soften and Katniss keeps his hand pressed against her heart.
“She used to make me dance with her when it rained,” Katniss snorts softly. “Didn’t care that we got soaked and muddy and usually-”
She stops when Peeta’s hand comes up to brush her hair off her face, but the boy nods, encouraging her to carry on despite his ministrations.
“Go on,” his thumb rubs over her cheek. “I’m listening.”
Katniss clears her throat, “We- we usually caught colds afterwards.”
Peeta smiles at this, his hands still warm as they cup her face.
“She would be happy to see you out here.”
“Yeah,” Katniss agrees. “Yeah, I think she would.”
They stay there for a while, swaying together in the rain with their foreheads pressed together. Katniss’s hands press lightly into Peeta’s sides whilst he holds her head against his, and in that moment she knows that she would stay here forever if she could.
She’s about to tell him so when a violent shiver runs through her body, and then Peeta is pulling away from her immediately - worry splayed over his face.
“C’mon, let’s get you inside, don't want you to catch a cold.”
Ever the mother hen.
Katniss wants to shake her head, unwilling to leave the rain and Prim behind. But she knows that Peeta is right, and doesn’t want to risk getting ill.
So she lets him pull her to the porch and into the house. Up the stairs, through his room, into the bathroom that used to be his but that they now share.
The boy sits her on the edge of the tub before helping Katniss to peel her soaked top off. He drops it into the bathtub, and her shorts follow suit.
Katniss shivers when the air hits her bare skin, but Peeta hands her a towel to dry herself off before the cold has time to set in- leaving one of his shirts and a pair of her shorts for on the counter before stepping out and offering her some privacy.
She steps out of the bathroom after changing. Peeta is tugging a dry shirt on in his room, and when he sees her, the boy pulls her forward and guides her to sit down on the bed.
He grabs a fleece from the closet and helps her into it, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead when it appears out of the neckline of the soft fabric. Then he reaches behind her head and untucks her hair from the collar of the fleece before zipping it up to her chin.
“Need anything? You're still shivering.”
“I’m just a little cold. But it’s an okay cold.” Katniss shakes her head and smiles up at him.
"Sure?" Peeta teases. "You've been known to play things like this down sometimes."
Katniss eyes him warily, and is about to retort when another shiver runs its way through her body.
Peeta laughs gently, but there's no unkindness behind it. “Can you even feel your fingers, sweetheart?”
She sticks her tongue out, “No. But they’ll warm up”
The boy tuts lightly before enveloping her in a bear hug, pulling the comforter over them as he holds her tightly to his chest and tangles his legs with hers.
Katniss curls up against him as he presses featherlight kisses to her temple.
“You’re such a mother hen.” She grumbles, but she can't stay mad at him and he knows it as well as she does.
Peeta shrugs underneath her, “Someone’s gotta keep you warm. I can ask Haymitch to do it if you’d rather him over me?”
Katniss swats his arm, “You wouldn’t dare.”
“No, I wouldn't,” the boy agrees. “I want you all to myself.”
Then, his hand shifts upwards to run over her spine gently. "Why d'you go outside today?"
Katniss doesn't quite know herself in all honesty, but she tries to explain to the best of her ability.
"I wanted to feel closer to Prim."
Peeta nods as if she's just said the most normal thing ever.
"You don't think that's weird?"
"No. I think you should do whatever brings you happiness and helps you to remember her," His lips are warm and soft against the crown of her head. "If dancing around in the pouring rain helps you do so, then I am beyond happy for you."
His words make tears swarm in Katniss's eyes and a small sob rises to her chest before she's even registered that she's crying.
"Oh, hey- no, hey sweetheart, I didn't mean to make you cry- please don't cry." Peeta moves them so they're on their sides, facing each other. His hand comes up to brush away the tears that are running down her cheeks.
Katniss shakes her head, hand framing his as she tries to get her breath back.
"I'm not sad," she whispers. "Just love you a lot. Thank you for always being so good with me."
The boy's expression softens and he draws her close again.
"Always, sweetheart. Always."