I Learn Why

Burnt

I haven't updated this story in literally FOREVER but school started a while ago and the past months have been a little... dramatic. I hope you guys like this one. :D

Father was baking when I woke, which meant fresh bread for breakfast. I quickly slipped out of bed, not bothering to wake Gray, and skipped into the kitchen.

Father stood at the oven, kneading dough, and Mother was as the dinning table skinning some kind of meat, her single braid resting on her shoulder. I assumed it was squirrel meat.

"Morning," he said, smiling down at me.

"Good morning," I said, yawning at the end. "Breakfast?"

"Soon," Mother promised, and put down her knife to hug me. "Is Gray still sleeping?"

"Yes," I muttered as I buried my face into her shoulder, almost falling asleep again as she stoked my back. I heard Father opening the oven and putting the pan in. His footsteps made the floorboards creak when he walked towards us.

"Should I wake him?" he asked. I pretended that I was asleep.

"Not yet," Mother replied, and stopped patting my back. I let my head rest against her shoulder so that she would think that I really was sleeping. "It's only eight or so."

"And it's Sunday," he agreed, putting his fist on the table. I tried peaking at him, but Mother's hair covered my eyes. I just listened.

"Do I need to hunt today?" she asked him. "Because if I go, I want to take her with me."

"I don't think so. I wanted to teach her how to bake today."

"That's a good idea. She's not the best at hunting, unfortunately."

"Shh, she might be listening."

"She knows it," Mother sighed, touching my braids. "She asked why she couldn't be like you and bake."

Father laughed. "Baking isn't that bad," he chuckled. "You act like it's a terrible thing."

"It's not," she muttered. She pressed her face into my neck, her nose cold against my ear, and kissed my cheek. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with baking." She kept her head next to mine.

"And hunting isn't that horrible either," he told her, laughing again. I struggled to not smile with him.

"I know you were listening, Ivy," she whispered suddenly, and I sat up, blushing. "It's okay. It takes skill to be quiet like that."

I stayed silent, still embarrassed that I had been caught.

"Want to go back to bed, sweetheart?" Father asked me, and when I turned toward his voice, his head was cocked in question, his eyes kind. 

"Okay," I said, and climbed off of Mother's lap and padded to my room. I could feel their eyes watching me as I walked back.

I was right at the doorway when I looked back. Mother was in Father's lap, her long braid on his shoulder with her arms around his neck, and he was holding her waist like she could fall. I had never seen such a romantic action between my parents, and out of fear of being caught listening and looking again, I ducked into my room to see Gray's chest heaving.

"Dammit," I heard Father curse. I heard that word at school from the older kids, but never at my ouwn house. "The bread, Katniss. I think I burnt the bread."

Mother mumbled something, but as much as I strained my ears to hear better, I couldn't

"They'll be hungry when they wake up," he was saying, and she shushed him. "Please get off?"

"Not yet," I heard her say, clearly this time. "You like this position, real or not real?"

"Fine," Father sighed. "Real. You want bread for breakfast, real or not real?"

Mother laughed quietly. "Real."

"Then if you let me get up, then I can get the perfectly burnt bread out of the oven to make new bread, real or not real?"

"Real," she said, much more quietly. I could barely hear her. "One more question."

"Yes?" Father asked, and I could barely hear him, too.

"You're okay with staying this way forever, real or not real?"

There was a pause, and I thought they were kissing.

"Definitely real."

I haven't updated this story in literally forever. Like I feel really bad... but if you want you can check out my Percy Jackson fan fiction? Because I Love You? just to pass the time... there's 45-46 chapters for the gods' sake -__-