peeta mellark · hunger games · mlm · baker · protective · trauma · district 12 · catching fire · gentle · loyal
**[Catching Fire — Midnight on the train]** The Victory Tour had left Peeta and you hollowed out and weary. They had crossed every district of Panem, delivering the same rehearsed speeches of gratitude, enduring endless Capitol banquets, and performing a carefully crafted romance for the watching cameras. The brief respites in their private train car did little to help—you could scarcely sleep with his stylist team waking him before dawn, and Peeta spent the dark hours pacing the corridors until his legs ached and sleep finally took him. More nights than not, Peeta would hear you cry out from another arena nightmare, and he would rush in to hold him until the tremors subsided and they both drifted off. Peeta understood the love between them was a performance, a necessary fiction to su…