InsaneJournal

Who: Peeta Mellark and Yue Katou
What: Katou stops by to buy some goodies
Where: Mellarky
When: Recently
Rating: PG
Status: Complete


Katou couldn’t believe how goddamn bored he was. He had skipped class for no other reason than the fact that he didn’t want to be there, but he didn’t really have anything else planned for the day. He’d spent much of the afternoon wandering around aimlessly, thinking that maybe he should have gone to class after all. Doing trig really couldn’t be much more boring than this.

He hesitated as he walked past a bakery, pausing as the smell of, well, baking, wafted out of the door. He hadn’t noticed how hungry he was, but apparently walking around doing nothing for a couple of hours was a really good way to work up an appetite. He frowned as he read the Mellarky sign. He generally didn’t go into other bakeries. It felt weirdly like he was cheating on Izzy, which was stupid. Especially in light of the fact that he’d cheated on multiple girlfriends without so much of a twinge of remorse.

As he contemplated going in, his stomach growled loudly. He gave a defeated sigh and walked in the front door, hands shoved into the pockets of his cargo shorts, toque on his head, and a white t-shirt with a cross showing off his biomechanical left arm.

Things were finally settling into the post-holiday swing and Peeta was happy that the business had seemed to go down to a simmer at this point. It had been a little crazy dealing with the customers between Christmas and New Year’s because so many people had time off, so there were a lot more parties happening. He probably did record sales on New Year's Eve since everyone wanted desserts to bring to their party and Peeta was happy to provide. He had taken a couple days off to rest up and was now getting back into it.

Today was mainly about different kinds of bread and he had just finished up a couple loaves of Asiago bread that he was bringing out to the front of the store when he heard the chime go off. He noticed one of his employees take care of the greeting, but as he went to put the bread into the case he noticed the man’s arm. That certainly wasn’t something you saw every day and he made his way over to him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have to say your arm is really neat. Does it work well?”

Katou hadn’t really been expecting anyone to come up to him and started a little when one of the workers came up to him. He was a little surprised at the question, but the surprise didn’t last long and his face spread into a grin. “It’s pretty cool, right?” he said, pulling his hand out of the pocket and wiggling his fingers. “Works almost as good as a real one. A touch handier,” har har, “for opening beer bottles though.”

When he reached his hand out and wiggled the fingers Peeta was slightly in awe. Wow, it looked really cool and he almost wished that he could have a leg that had toes that would wiggle, “Wow, that’s insane. And I’m sure that’s really useful. How do you get it to work for you? I’ve got a bit of hardware myself and it’s definitely not as fancy as your arm right there.”

“Pretty damn useful,” Katou said. “I play guitar, so when I lost my arm I was worried I wouldn’t be able to no more, but it worked out.” The finger blades were pretty neat too, but he wasn’t in the habit of whipping those out in public spaces. “I don’t know how it works though. I ain’t a…” he frowned as he realized he didn’t know the name for it, “arm-maker,” he finished lamely after a beat. “What kinda hardware you got?”

Peeta let out a chuckle when the man ended up just saying arm-maker, “Hey, don’t worry. I was just curious if anyone explained it to you. Arm-maker is probably a pretty apt name for it though. And I’ve got a prosthetic leg at the moment. It’s just a normal model at the moment, but I’ve got some cool prosthetics I can switch it out for if I want to go running or things like that.” He lifted up his pant leg so that the man could see it.

Katou squatted down to get a better look at it, but it really did look like just a prosthetic leg. He guessed not all people were lucky enough to have angelic mad-scientists to build stuff in their dreams. He knew Ed had a fake leg and arm that both seemed to work as well as Katou’s arm, but he’d gotten them from the dreams too. “Sucks dude,” he said. “‘Bout the leg, I mean. Is it very hard to walk? Took a bit ‘til I could do fine detail shit with my arm.” It had been a very frustrating couple of months, though on the bright side he was right-handed and it was his left arm that had been taken out.

“It took me a while to get used to it. I still have standing physical therapy meeting a couple times a month just to make sure everything is going well,” at least the VA hospital was good for that. He also liked to talk to the doctors about potential new legs that he could upgrade to. He didn’t need anything fancy, but it would be useful if it worked better, “And I could totally understand the fine detail part. I’m really awful at ice skating and things like that. I’m still sorting all that out as I go along.”

Katou had skipped getting any professional therapy when he’d lost his arm, though, he imagined it would probably be kind of difficult to explain to doctors where he’d gotten his biomechanical arm. “I didn’t even think ‘bout ice skating and shit. Don’t imagine shit was easy when it was all snowy.” He frowned a little to himself. “Though I guess you probably don’t really like talking ‘bout this shit.” There was an apologetic tone to Katou’s voice, and he’d apologize if apologizing was something he did.

The apology drew a head shake from Peeta, “It’s not a big deal. It’s been a few years now, so it’s not as painful as it was when it first happened, so don’t worry about it. But you must have come in for a reason, so apologizes for distracting you. What can I get ya?” Peeta realized that he was probably preventing the poor guy from getting that he came in for. He really didn’t mind talking about his injury especially with someone else who had gone through something similar.

Katou’d almost forgotten about grabbing food, though at Peeta’s question Katou’s stomach growled. “Naw, nothing to apologize for,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. “I don’t really getta meet other people who, you know, get it I guess.” Aside from Ed, at least. “Whatever it is I’m smelling,” Katou said, grinning. “I was passing by and it made me realize I’m hungry. And like… brownies or something if you got ‘em,” because Katou didn’t pass up opportunities to eat brownies if he had the opportunity.

“I agree, it’s hard to meet other people. I see some at physical therapy and stuff, but not out and about usually. And you would be smelling Asiago bread, isn’t it great?” It was seriously one of Peeta’s favorite things to bake because it smelled so good, “So, I can grab you a loaf of bread and some brownies? I’ve got chocolate chunk and white chocolate swirl brownies today.” Yeah, he liked to make different varieties just so he could spice things up and sometimes people discovered new favorites that way.

Physical therapy had been something Katou had never gone to. Mostly because, he didn’t exactly know how to explain ‘I woke up one morning and my arm didn’t work, and then I woke up a few nights later with a whole new one attached.’ “Oh, definitely the white chocolate ones,” Katou said. He’d always really loved white chocolate, even if most of his friends never understood the appeal. “Yeah, the bread and them brownies would be perfect.”

“Oh wow. I wish that was how it had gone for me,” Peeta couldn’t help but chuckle, “I definitely had to deal with a lot of pain and surgeries to remove my leg. So, sign me up for how yours went. That sounds so much better.” He moved around to the counter so he could get Katou’s order for him and started to package it all up, “Awesome, I’m glad I could help you get your sweet tooth fill for the day. Oh and I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Peeta.” Once he was at the register he reached across to shake Katou’s hand.

Katou gave a grimace of sympathy. He remembered the pain in his dreams from getting the mechanical arm attached, and it had been one of the most painful experiences he’d gone through, and he’d died a few times in the dreams. He was glad he didn’t have to go through anything like that in real life. “Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t wanna go through all that. Sorry you had to, man.”

The corner of his lip tugged upwards a little, but he managed to show enough restraint to not make a comment about a guy named Peeta working in a bakery. “Katou,” he said, taking Peeta’s hand. “S’good to meet ya.”

Oh, Peeta had definitely heard all jokes about his name, but he was quick to point to his nametag and point out the difference in spelling. But it had worked well and his last name was still great for the name of the bakery, “No worries, what doesn’t kill ya makes you stronger, so I’m definitely a lot stronger than I used to be. And this is your total. I’m glad the smell got you to stop in because it was really nice to talk to you.”

“Sometimes what does kill you makes you stronger too,” Katou snorted. He didn’t expect Peeta to understand, but it still made him grin to himself. He pulled some change and a couple of crumpled dollar bills from his pocket and handed them to Peeta. “Yeah, it was good talking to you too. Ya know, sometimes I play guitar around here. Like, on the street if you ever wanna come by.”

“That’d be great. Just stop by and see if I’m at the shop and I’ll make sure to come out,” Peeta finished up the transaction and handed over the food to Katou, “I’m usually here. If not, someone will let me know and I’ll make sure to stop by. That sounds great. Thanks for letting me know and coming in today.”

Katou took the food, rather eager to go to a park someplace and dig in. Maybe he’d even share some of the bread for Jack later. “Yeah, was good talking to you too,” he said. “I’ll catch you later.” Katou decided he liked Peeta, and if his baking was anywhere nears as good as Izzy’s, then Katou’d be back.