our breath fogged in the glass

[lucked]

In some ways, Claire couldn't deny the fact that being in London was... kind of romantic. The snow was beautiful as it fell from the sky and came to blanket everything in their immediate vicinity with white too bright to stare at for long, and Claire had almost grown accustomed to rushing back into her apartment and huddling close to the stove,

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[notapiece]

The way that the world changed had been another thing that Peeta had been forced to deal with. The clothes weren't so bad and having paved streets made it easier on his leg. When December rolled around he had been anticipating a return to the change of last year. This was something else entirely.

Dressed in trousers with suspenders, he had hung his jacket on a hook in the back. With his shirt-sleeves rolled up, he had been working in the back when he heard the bell. A changed environment was no reason to forsake his job. That wouldn't be fair to Shari who had worked so hard to put the place together.

"No, it isn't. Trust me," he answered as he wiped his hands on his apron, the smile on his face fading into a look of surprise as he stepped into the front and saw Claire. Claire whom he hadn't spoken to in months, wishing to respect her choice even though he had wanted to fight for her. She needed space. She needed someone whole. Someone who wasn't him, as much as he'd have liked it to be. "Claire. How can I help you?"

[lucked]

Her heart skipped a beat. And suddenly, unease spread through the rest of Claire like wildfire, a flush rising to her cheeks as she fought the immediate temptation to run, to forget, to escape from the emotions which kept her held constantly in a state of conflict. (Because it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to him, or to anyone else involved that love could spill over in an instant, constantly tangling everyone's webs until one person couldn't move without tripping everyone else in the process. It wasn't fair that she should feel so much for more than any one single person, and it wasn't fair that she could still feel for her now, her whole awareness lurching with the realization

[notapiece]

The feeling was palpable. That unease mixed with the feeling of sadness at having lost something that he once held dear. But he hadn't really lost Claire, not in the way that he had lost so many other things. Here she was, standing in the bakery that he was using to pass the time. So much had changed, but here she was. It made him wonder.

Picking up a rag, he gave the back counter a little wipe before setting it back down again. He had been looking for something to do with his hands and that hadn't been the answer he was looking for.

"Nothing," he answered after a moment's consideration. Shaking his head slightly he looked at her. "We still don't use money and I've got time. Consider it on the house."

[lucked]

Everything about him was familiar. Claire knew that she was far too young to really know what it was like, to be so deeply in love that one would have been willing to give up just about anything to keep that flame burning. She knew that she was far from it, a mixture of youth and the sheer reticence that came with everything that she'd seen and experienced in her life. An inability to believe that there were good things to come, or that they'd last, probably doomed to be snatched from her hands at the first opportunity. She'd gotten a taste of love with Chris, the type that was consuming, that wanted to fight against all odds- but in some way, it had tired her. Always bending and feeling as though she wasn't quite herself, in a way that she'd never been around Peeta. Until now