To say Sharon Mellark wasn't a fan of Katniss Everdeen had been an understatement. From the day the girl had moved from the Seam to Merchant Square, Sharon had criticized the girl's presence in their town. "They didn't earn the money they've used to climb here. You can remove the trash from the Seam, but it's still trash."

A 15-year-old Peeta shouldn't have been surprised at how despicable his mother was to say such things about his new classmate, whose father had recently died in a freak accident at the sanitation department where he worked, granting the Everdeen family a substantially large settlement. He shouldn't have been surprised, but he was.

On that first day, Peeta had seen Haymitch Abernathy driving a U-Haul into town with a girl about his age in the passenger seat. Driving behind them was a blonde-haired woman with a younger version of herself in the passenger seat of an old Honda Civic.

Haymitch wasn't the most unpleasant person in Merchant Square, but he was the most peculiar. He didn't leave his house often except for the rare trip to the store or an occasional evening at The Hob- the local bar. If you did happen to run into him around town, he didn't talk much; didn't engage in the local gossip like so many of the other residents of the Square. He didn't look, act or dress like the other occupants here either. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder, was quiet and reserved, and he certainly wasn't the best dressed, in fact, Peeta had heard many of his neighbors suggest that he purchase some new clothes or at least wash the ones he had. Haymitch didn't fit in and that was reason enough for Sharon to dislike him.

Peeta always thought Haymitch was a nice man. Sharon told him he was stupid when he voiced that thought aloud, "How can you even tell? He never speaks."

Of course, he couldn't tell her about the time he had run into the older man on accident as he was fleeing the bakery with a swollen eye and a bloody cheek because his mother had just hit him with a rolling pin. He couldn't tell her that the man had wordlessly bandaged him up, patting him slightly on the shoulder when he was done.

Hours after the U-Haul sighting, Haymitch came into the bakery for what Peeta was sure was the first time in all the years the man had lived just a few short blocks away, with two younger girls - the brunette he had seen in the passenger seat of the truck and the younger blonde he had seen in the car following. He noticed the look of disgust on his mother's face at their entry, probably due to a combination of their unkempt clothing and what appeared to be dirt on the older girls face. Peeta thought the girl was beautiful.

The younger one went straight to the display of decorated cakes, marveling at one of the smaller ones with tiny flowers. "Look Katniss, this one would be perfect for us. We could celebrate our new home."

"Not today, Prim. Let's just get what we came here for and go back home. I still have to make dinner," the brunette replied.

Peeta could tell the older girl - Katniss - was displeased at having to tell the younger girl no. Katniss turned to his mother asking for two loaves of their best bread, Sharon was happy to help her, money was money after all, until the money Katniss pulled out to pay for the bread was a couple dollar bills and the rest was all coins. Peeta wasn't sure if the girls noticed the way his mom had scoffed and rolled her eyes at having to count all that change, but he could tell by the way Haymitch glared over the top of their heads at Sharon, that he had. When Peeta bagged up one loaf of sourdough bread and one loaf of raisin and nut bread, he added a few cheese buns in hopes to make up for his mother's rudeness. He hoped she hadn't scared the girl away.

A year later, when Peeta finally got up the nerve to ask Katniss on a date, his mother accused him of doing so to spite her.

"You can't really like her, Peeta. She's not one of us."

So, it's not really a surprise that it doesn't take her long to suggest Peeta start dating again after his and Katniss' disastrous breakup. And it's even less surprising that she sets him up with Glimmer Matthews.

Sharon hates Katniss.

Katniss hates Glimmer.

It is shocking to his friends that Peeta agrees to date Glimmer. For all Sharon's talk about how little Katniss and Peeta have in common, Glimmer and Peeta have less.

Peeta just wants to not be so completely in love with Katniss and so terribly heartbroken by her, that he clings to the idea of Glimmer and her feelings for him in his quest of moving on. If he feels any shame for not returning Glimmer's affections completely, he does his best to ignore it.

Three months into his newfound relationship, he realizes it's just not working. Glimmer will never be a suitable replacement for Katniss and now he's adding a third broken heart to this fucked up tangled mess. He tries to let Glimmer down gently, but she sobs uncontrollably, begging him to stay, to try - much like he wishes Katniss would have.

Peeta's glad to be moving out of the loft above the bakery. He's hoping that without the convenience of being so close to the family business, his mother won't stop by his home so frequently and if nothing else, he feels he needs one more degree of separation between him and his overbearing family. His brother, Rye, has just come home having spent the last 10 years in the military, has now been honorably discharged and needs the studio more anyway. It has nothing to do with the fact that for the four years he lived here, Katniss was here as much as he was.

He didn't realize how much stuff Katniss had left here. They had spent more time at her little house than they had at his apartment.

He comes across her cookbook first, while he's packing up his kitchen, filled with family recipes. Some of them typed up, some handwritten by members of the Everdeen family, a few in Katniss' own handwriting. Although the woman cannot bake to save her life, she can cook and has been known to make a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup that tastes better than many meals he's had at 5-star restaurants.

When he's packing up his bathroom, he finds her favorite tube of lipstick next to her hairbrush and a small container of hair ties she kept here. He knows she doesn't wear makeup often and he wonders if she's noticed its absence. Has she been looking for it? Was she going on a date and needed it? Did she just buy a new one?

He was expecting to find a few articles of clothing in the bottom drawer of his dresser (her drawer) and he does. A pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, a couple shirts, a tank top or two and a couple sets of sleepwear. But he'd forgotten about the coral dress she wore to the last dinner party of his mother's she had attended or the sexy white lingerie she had worn underneath it.

The sight of the clothing brings back memories of that night. The tension at the dinner party where mother dearest had told a table of dinner guests that she hoped Peeta would marry soon.

"I mean it's been seven years, Peeta. How much longer do you two plan to live in sin?"

He remembers wondering if that meant she'd finally accepted that Katniss was who he'd planned to spend the rest of his life with. If she realized, he really did love this woman. He remembers the small smile Katniss had offered his eldest brother, Wheaton, in thanks when he responded with, "Mom, you don't want to be planning a wedding when you have your first grandbaby on the way."

That sentence alone took the pressure of his girlfriend. For the first time in a long time, the topics of conversation did not involve Katniss, her family troubles, or her relationship with Peeta.

Peeta fondly remembers how gorgeous Katniss looked in the pale pink-orange dress, contrasted against her dark skin. The way the sweetheart neckline that showed a perfectly conservative amount of cleavage also showcased the necklace he had bought her more than a few years ago that claimed she would always be his. The way the dress was form fitting from the waist up with an asymmetrical skirt that fell just below her knees. He was certain that only she could make a simple gown look so incredibly sexy.

That evening, when they made it back to his loft and she peeled out of the dress to expose a simple white strapless corset and sheer white panties, he didn't wait long to show her just how sexy he found her.

He was hard just thinking about that night. For a second he thought about entertaining those thoughts, but instead threw the last of her belongings into a box and finished up packing.

After the last box was taped up, he decided to jump in the shower. It was late afternoon and he would be moving everything to his new apartment tomorrow. As he washed away the sweat and dirt from packing off his body, he found his thoughts went back to Katniss. This time he allowed himself the to get lost in his desirous thoughts as he grabbed his cock and pumped slowly up and down until he brought himself to orgasm.

When he hopped out of the shower, he threw on a pair of jeans, a forest green shirt that Katniss had bought him no doubt because it was her favorite color, he put the box that contained the ring he had proposed to Katniss with in his pocket, grabbed his wallet, keys, phone, also shoving them into his pockets, picked up the box of Katniss' stuff and walked out the door.