The Boy In Love // THG Peeta's POV

The Station

Pointing fingers, gawking faces, wide eyes. That's all I saw as the train rolled into the Capitol. The vibrant fluorescent falsities of the candy city faded to the background, a mere filler compared to the reactions of the citizens. 

The second the train cleared the long tunnel leading into the Capitol, shrieks overwhelmed my ears and the pointing citizens clouded my vision. I felt like throwing up. 

Of course they were excited, we were the most interesting part of their year. For a whole month, every part of the Capitol revolved around the Games. The viewing parties, the feasts, the betting, the celebrations with the winner, it was all about the Games. 

I can see that Katniss was sickened as well, seeing as she took a fearful step back as soon as the gleam of the capitol was visible. My stomach turned and I swayed on my feet, but I swallowed harshly and approached the window regardless. If Katniss was going to hide, that meant I had all the more work to do to garner sponsorships for the both of us. 

I plastered a grin on my face and waved to no one in particular, determinedly setting my eyes on the candyesque skyline. I let my eyes wander over the vibrancy of the city, the perfect summer blues even though it was spring, the fluorescent pinks, the dazzling yellows. I held my eyes off the crowd, knowing that a look at their surgically perfect (or disastrous) faces might just make me lose it.

I hadn't realised I was holding my breath until we rolled into the train station and I finally exhaled. I smiled when I noticed Katniss' stare though. "Who knows," I said with a smirk and a shrug. "One of them may be rich." She cocked her head at me in response, seemingly sizing me up. 

I don't get a chance to wonder why, however, as the doors whoosh open and we are overwhelmed by a cloud of Capitol stylists that are so surgically altered they might as well be aliens. 

"Helloooooo," trilled one of my stylists in a voice so high and sing-songy I had to resist the urge to cover my ears. His/her (I couldn't tell) hair was a painfully orange orange that stood straight up for almost a foot above his head before becoming a green spire. "An absolute pleasure to meet you, I'm Shameem. You must be Katniss! Delighted," he (I decided) crowed before kissing both my cheeks. 

"You nimrod," groaned another. Her chocolaty skin was contoured with diamonds implanted in her face and body. "This is obviously Peeta. Nice to meet you, I'm Nymphadora I apologise for my colleague, she (guess I was wrong about her gender) couldn't tell a llama from a lion." I furrowed my brow, having no idea what a "llama" was. 

"Oh hush," cried another, also leaning in to kiss my cheeks. I almost screamed when he did, I wasn't very used to people who had skin the colour of the summer sky, complete with fluffy white clouds here and there. "I'm Milan, and I'm afraid that we have no time left to dilly dally."

With that, the terrifying posse of stylists grasped my by the arms and led me off to a very uncertain future.

*****

Short chapter, sorry, but I just couldn't bring myself to write more today and I thought it was long past time for an update. Hope you liked it! Vote or comment xo

-Siren Song

Oh my gosh I just realised I published this chapter without a title!