what would you have me do?

so many people are lament that 'peeta will never be the same again' after his hijacking.

but i feel like that is only because katniss views peeta as this perfect, unchanged figure throughout the first two books.

the type of person who could never be changed by the games.

but readers, just like katniss, forget that peeta couldn't fit into his old roles after the games. because he had changed. just like katniss.

he was no longer a star on the wrestling team. he was no longer the baker's son who would greet everyone in the morning from the bakery's steps.

instead, he was a boy who limped into town to see his family once a week for dinner. a boy whose eyes adorn bags because he can't get a good night's sleep. a boy whose biggest fear is losing his lover. so much he is ready to die for her.

and so, the whole point of peeta's character in mockingjay is that he is not a new, 'mutt' version of himself. or even a post-mutt version. he simply is peeta, a teenager who has gone through hell and back. and forgive him if that changed him a little.

and yet, everyone is still convinced by katniss's "he's changed" instead of focusing on johanna *and suzanne's* point that "everyone has" (mj, 205).

Katniss: idk if I love Peeta but I am disgusted by the suggestion that I would take a lover who is not him. I relate strongly with Finnick because he is grieving his lost love, Annie, the same exact way I am grieving Peeta. I am the man in the hanging tree reincarnated, as I would rather my lover (Peeta) die than face the evil in the world. Peeta is the only person I want to kiss and be held by at night. I will literally kill myself before I live in a world where he doesn't love me. But yeah, I just don't know how anyone knows how they feel about someone :/

Once again thinking about Peeta being a "whiz" at fires and that Katniss is the girl on fire. And specifically thinking about how building up a fire takes oxygen. And how Peeta must know the right amount of breath to use to build it up. Not so little it doesn't take, but not so much that it gets blown up. Just enough support for it to become the center of the gathering.

And how a gale is a strong wind that would blow out any new flame trying to spring up. It's simply too much of what's needed and it's overpowering. And in a steady fire, gales create dangerous circumstances for wildfires bringing about widespread destruction, rather than a warming campfire.

all my students in my dystopian film class think gale is a better match for katniss than peeta and i told them they were Objectively Wrong and they assigned me a slideshow for homework to prove it and—

look. these children are about to be destroyed.

my speech was 17 minutes long and when i finished the boy who challenged me to make the slideshow pursed his lips and said "okay fine, you're right, but i'm docking you points for being biased when you called gale a brat baby"

I’m just so happy that the world finally woke up and discovered that Peeta was THE STANDARD of love interests in YA fiction. Who else was out here doing it like him??

so suzanne collins just dropped this absolute BOMB of a passage — and many more, might i add — and we let her get away with it???????????

I just want you all to know i shipped peeta and katniss from the beginning because i absolutely love their dynamic

Katniss: "What are you planning? What cruel machinations lie in your twisted labyrinth of a mind? TELL ME WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHY WON'T YOU JUST KILL ME YOU EVIL MASTERMIND?"

Peeta: *is just some guy*

no one is doing it like katniss everdeen and peeta mellark. they have it ALL. fake dating. enemies to lovers. rivals to lovers. friends to lovers. star-crossed lovers. opposites attract. hurt-comfort. nightmare induced bed sharing. shared trauma. guy falls first. sunshine & grumpy. childhood crush.

everyone say thank you suzanne.