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English
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Part 8 of April Color Prompts
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/r/FanFiction Daily Prompt Collections
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Published:
2022-04-09
Completed:
2022-04-23
Words:
1,830
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3/3
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39
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The Mutt

Summary:

Peeta must accept that there are three people in his marriage: himself, Katniss, and Buttercup.

April color prompts: Symbolism - orange, silver bullet, colorful language.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: The Mutt

Chapter Text

Peeta had long ago accepted that there were three people in his marriage: himself, Katniss, and Buttercup. He knew that Katniss had a special attachment to the … cat (he supposed that he should call it a cat) because Buttercup had originally been Prim's pet. And Peeta had tried again and again to like Buttercup.

But the cat was a demon.

Buttercup had never been Peeta's biggest fan, but when Peeta had moved in with Katniss, Buttercup's attitude toward him had moved from disdainful to hostile. There were cat scratches all over Peeta's arms and legs to prove it. Buttercup had torn many of Peeta's clothes, curtains, and furniture to shreds — only Peeta's things, never Katniss's. He peed on Peeta's pillow at every opportunity. When Peeta and Katniss had sex, Buttercup would sit outside the bedroom door and yowl loudly. If they left the door open, then he'd usually jump on the bed and bite Peeta.

But the last straw came yesterday when Peeta had moved too suddenly around Buttercup and the cat, in a flurry of yellow-orange fur and claws and teeth, had somehow jumped several feet in the air and bitten Peeta right on the neck. Peeta had bled. A lot.

Buttercup was not a normal cat.

Peeta entered their living room to find that Buttercup was seated on Katniss's lap. The creature's eyes narrowed hatefully when he caught sight of Peeta. Buttercup had the most unnatural-looking eyes.

"How's the wound?" Katniss asked as Peeta walked in.

"It hurts like hell," Peeta said, deciding not to sugarcoat it.

"Buttercup just has too much energy," Katniss said. "I should have taken him hunting with me yesterday."

That was another weird thing about Buttercup. Katniss had taken to bringing him with her when she went into the woods. He was apparently excellent at sussing out small rodents. She seemed to treat him in much the same way that people would treat a hunting dog. But Peeta had never heard of anyone in District 12 having a hunting cat.

"Too much energy?" Peeta asked, incredulously. "Katniss, I nearly needed stitches."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Katniss looked at Peeta briefly and then back at the demon-cat in her lap. "I know that you two don't get along. I didn't get along so great with Buttercup myself at one time."

Peeta sat down on the couch across from them, careful not to alarm Buttercup. The cat gave him the stink eye, nevertheless.

"Katniss, have you ever considered the possibility that Buttercup is a mutt?"

"Yes," Katniss said.

Peeta blinked. "Yes?"

He hadn't expected her to take it so easily.

"Of course," Katniss said, scratching underneath Buttercup's chin. "He's pretty big for a housecat, isn't he? And that face and those eyes — not exactly normal. I've honestly suspected it ever since he first followed me home from the woods."

"Since he — hold on. I thought that Prim brought him home?"

"She found him wandering near our house, sure," Katniss said, fondly. "But I'd already chased him away half a dozen times by then. The first time I saw Buttercup, he followed me home from the woods. Jumped the fence and everything. Why do you think I tried to drown him? This huge mutt cat kept hanging around my family. I had to do something."

"Uh-huh," Peeta said. This was more of Buttercup's backstory than he'd ever gotten before.

"I think he's more like the mockingjays, though," Katniss said, thoughtfully.

"Like the mockingjays?"

"Yeah. You know, a mix of mutt and normal animal? I've looked up catlike mutations in books and none of them look exactly like Buttercup. But maybe some of the Capitol's mutts could have bred with our local feral cat population? There's a lot of feral cats living in the woods and some of them are really weird-looking, let me tell you."

Peeta blinked. This was interesting, but they were getting rather off-topic.

"Katniss, things can't go on like this." He gestured to his bandaged neck.

Katniss gave him a long, rather cold look.

"Alright, go get the tub," she said, at last.

"The tub?"

"So we can drown him."

"I don't want to drown him!"

Buttercup gave a long, low growl as if he'd understood them. Peeta had long suspected that the beast could understand human speech better than most cats. But he seemed to blame Peeta for his predicament even though Katniss had been the one to suggest drowning him.

"Well, it's the only way of getting rid of him," Katniss said. "Believe me, I've tried other methods. He even walked from District 13 to District 12 to find us."

Peeta looked from Katniss to Buttercup, from Buttercup to Katniss. He realized that she was right.

"I — fine, we're not going to drown him," he said, at last.

"No," Katniss said, petting his fur. Peeta realized that she'd never thought for a moment that he would drown that cat. "Well, I think it's time for a little hunting."

She stood and Buttercup jumped down from her lap. She walked into the mud room where she kept her bow and arrows.

"Buttercup, come," she said and she gave the low whistle that she used to call him.

Buttercup bounded after her.

Chapter 2: Silver

Summary:

Peeta finds a novel solution to his Buttercup problem.

Chapter Text

"So it's come to this, Peeta?" Katniss said. She sat across from her husband and looked at him evenly as one of her hands stroked Buttercup in comfort.

"It seems it has," Peeta said. He held his new cat in his lap — a huge grey cat with shining eyes that Peeta had named Silver. Naturally, Buttercup hated Silver. Buttercup had never been good at getting along with new people and it didn't surprise Katniss that cats were no different.

"She attacked Buttercup," Katniss observed.

"She was just protecting me," Peeta said. "I needed protection, Katniss! That's why I got her in the first place. Buttercup was using my arms as scratching posts!"

"Hmph," Katniss said as Buttercup made an offended noise. "Silver is a mutt."

"Buttercup is a mutt!"

This was true enough, Katniss supposed. Buttercup was a muttation or if not a muttation then a mixture of mutt and natural animal. She strongly suspected the same of Silver. Silver was even larger than Buttercup and her eyes were just as unnatural looking. Katniss had to admit that she was much prettier than Buttercup though. Peeta would choose a pretty pet.

Katniss studied her husband closely. Peeta scratched his beard, uncomfortable under her scrutiny. People assumed that Peeta was a pushover because he was generally nice, but he could be remarkably stubborn when he set his mind to it. Katniss judged that this was one of those times.

"You won't be convinced to send Silver back into the forest," Katniss said.

"Send her into the forest? She's my pet!"

Silver looked at Katniss and Buttercup with cold eyes.

Katniss sighed and stood. Buttercup jumped down from her lap. Katniss supposed that this meant war between them.

"All right, Peeta, if that's the way you want to play it. Buttercup, come."

She whistled and Buttercup followed behind her.

Chapter 3: Buttercup’s Progeny

Summary:

Haymitch makes a discovery.

Chapter Text

Katniss licked a bit of pink cupcake icing from Peeta's fingers. Peeta looked into his wife's eyes. He moved in for a kiss.

Their kitchen door slammed open, hitting the wall with great force.

"You two need to stop doing that right fucking now and come over to my godamned house," Haymitch said.

"Hello Haymitch," Katniss said, rolling her eyes. "Thanks so much for knocking."

Peeta sighed as he stepped reluctantly away from Katniss. "What's the problem?"

"What's the problem?" Haymitch asked. "What's the goddamned problem? You two need to come see what those motherfucking demons that you call pets have done at my house."

"Did they dig up the flowers that Effie planted again?" Katniss asked in a bored voice.

"Worse," Haymitch said.

"They didn't kill one of your geese, did they?" Peeta asked. The cats hadn't ever bothered Haymitch's geese, but Peeta had caught Buttercup staring at them with murder in his eyes more than once.

"Worse."

"Worse than killing one of your geese?" Peeta asked, in alarm. Haymitch adored those geese.

"Just … come with me," Haymitch said. He stormed out of the house. Katniss looked at Peeta and shrugged before they both followed him. Haymitch led them around the back of his house. Peeta was surprised when he walked not to the doorway, but to one end of his back porch.

Peeta froze. He heard what sounded like tiny, high-pitched meows coming from under Haymitch's porch. He felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Haymitch led them to where there was a small hole in the trellis and Peeta saw that Silver was stationed just underneath the porch with five small balls of fluff kneading at her stomach.

"Oh," Peeta said. "I guess that's where Silver's been going during the day."

This prompted a long string of profanity from Haymitch.

"Silver had kittens?" Katniss asked, peering around Haymitch.

"Looks like," Peeta said.

"I didn't think I'd have to explain the facts of life to you two idiots," Haymitch said. "But when you have a boy cat and a girl cat this can sometimes happen. You should have had them fixed."

Katniss looked at Haymitch, flatly. "Do you know someone who can neuter a cat?"

She had a fair point. Not many people lived in District 12 nowadays and they didn't have a proper veterinarian. Peeta wasn't sure how one would go about having a cat fixed.

Katniss began to reach under the porch to pick up a kitten but thought better of it when Silver glared at her.

"Peeta, maybe you better pick one up," Katniss said. "I'm not sure that Silver wants me touching her babies."

Peeta sighed and reached under the porch, picking up a grey and white ball of fluff. The kitten already had its eyes open and it meowed vigorously.

"Your fucking demons have been breeding under my house," Haymitch said.

"We don't know that Buttercup is the father," Katniss said, not missing a beat.

Peeta looked at her, incredulously.

"Really, Katniss? Really?"

He reached under the porch and pulled out another kitten. This one had yellow-orange fur and Buttercup's distinctive smushed face.

"Okay, maybe Buttercup is the father," Katniss admitted.

"And here's the proud Daddy now," Haymitch said, rolling his eyes.

Peeta looked down to see Buttercup approaching, probably wondering what all the fuss was about.

"We should keep him away," Peeta said. "I've heard that male cats sometimes eat kittens."

"Buttercup isn't going to eat his babies," Katniss said, sounding insulted. "He's very nurturing."

"Nurturing?!" Peeta said. "I'm not sure that's the word I would use, Katniss."

Peeta held a kitten close to Buttercup's face. Buttercup sniffed at it and touched his nose to the little one's forehead.

"What are we going to do with five kittens?" Peeta asked.

"We could always give them away," Katniss said.

"To who?"

Katniss thought for a moment. "Haymitch," she said, at last, "would you like to adopt—"

"Fuck no."

Notes:

If you enjoyed the fic, then I love kudos and comments!

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