Fourth Floor Common Room | Friday Evening

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

Peeta had almost been here for a full week and the whole thing still didn't feel quite real to him. Not living in fear was a new thing, and he wasn't quite sure how to react to it so he decided to settle down and do something familiar to clear his head. That something being baking, obviously. The kitchens were well stocked enough but the equipment was different than what Peeta was used to so he decided to stick with making cupcakes rather than anything too elaborate. The first batch was done and cooling and the second was almost ready to go in the oven. He was even making his own buttercream frosting because that can of pre-made stuff he found in the pantry was gross.

It wasn't so much clearing his head so much as it was a nice distraction, but he would take what he could get.

[Baking is so an identity. Open of course]

Comments

[taseredagod.livejournal.com]

Darcy had smelt something baking and followed her nose. "Did you make those from scratch?" she asked when she finally found the source. "Can I have one?" Really Darcy?

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, of course," Peeta said, nodding towards the ones on the cooling rack. "There's no way I can eat all of those myself."

Actually he probably could.

[taseredagod.livejournal.com]

Darcy hopped on a chair an helped herself to a cupcake. "Thank you! Oh, I'm Darcy. Not just some weird cupcake theif."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Oh god, please say you're sharing those." Tony hadn't eaten anything that didn't come wrapped in plastic since his trip to the mainland, so...

Okay, that wasn't an excuse, but it was still there.

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

Peeta nodded. "Of course. I'd be kind of a jerk if I made a ton of cupcakes and kept them to myself."

And Peeta prided himself on his non-jerkiness.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You are my favorite new person," Tony said, coveting those cupcakes with his eyes. "You are new, right? I haven't been holed up that long."

Only a few days. That barely counted.

[taseredagod.livejournal.com]

"I was going to say that there's way too many for him not to share, but then I remembered - teenage boys." Darcy commented around her own cupcake.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"We're like black holes," Tony agreed cheerfully.

[dollpocalypse]

"Nope."

Topher, they were not your cupcakes. And holding one just slightly out of Tony's reach was mean.

Also he could take that away in a second if he wanted to. So...

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You do remember I'm stronger than you, right?" Tony asked with an amused eye roll.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Much like Darcy, Toby'd been drawn in by the smell of baking. He grinned when he saw whose handiwork it was.

"Does being fake-siblings warrant sharing?" he asked.

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"If fake-siblings are anything like my real siblings then you probably should have helped out with the baking," Peeta teased. "But I guess I can let you off the hook this time and let you have cupcakes."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"I did take a workshop last summer on cupcake making," Toby mused. "So I'm not terrible at it. Though it's not precisely my calling."

[dollpocalypse]

"There's cupcakes!"

Yes, Topher. The cupcake smell was why you'd come up here, remember?

And that would be one getting swiped off the cooling rack. "Dude," Topher said with a mouthful of cupcake in his mouth, "is this buttercream?"

APPROVED.

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"Yep," Peeta said with a nod. "I didn't approve of the fake stuff in the pantry."

He felt sorry for anybody who did.

[dollpocalypse]

"Well this is awesome," Topher informed him, finishing the rest of his cupcake in a single bite. "And a step up from some other people who bake here and use, like, tartar sauce in cookies."

Karla.

[solarhippie]

Karolina's player had given up on sensible bedtimes weeks ago was another person drawn in by the smell, though she'd actually been on her way up to the roof. To scope out flying opportunities. Maybe.

But she was fine with a detour when it smelled this nice.

"Oh, hey, the cupcakes aren't a myth after all!"

[taseredagod.livejournal.com]

"But the cake is still a lie." Darcy couldn't help herself.

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"Well if they were before they aren't now," Peeta said with a smile. "No pony to deliver them though, sorry."

[dollpocalypse]

"There's a myth about cupcakes?" Topher asked. "Dude. That's horrible."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Your big sibling is a liar if they told you that." A beat. "They're as real as the pony that teaches here."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Are they... not something you encounter, normally?" Hey, she could be from some totally different world. A sad, cupcake-less world. Toby didn't judge.

[yinandyango.livejournal.com]

It was the scent of cupcakes baking that definitely drew Fawn toward the door of the common room, the room she thought she would never dare venture into because it was far too open, far too likely to be frequented by large amounts of people. But she always had a soft spot for baked goods, especially sugary ones, considering that her mother never allowed them to have any, but her father would sometimes buy them doughnuts when they went playing in the subways. She cautiously peeked in, regretting the draw because of all the people, but when she spotted that it looked as though Peeta was the source of the incredible smell, she smiled a little, because that was obviously a face she knew and could trust a little bit since it wasn't like he'd killed her in her sleep or anything yet.

So she tentatively stepped in, brushing her hair back behind her ears. "Those smell really good..."

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"Fawn, hey," Peeta greeted with a smile. "You're free to help yourself, I've been sharing with everybody."

[dollpocalypse]

"They aren't," Topher said quickly, surreptitiously reaching for another one for himself.

Because someone didn't know how to share.