Tough Love | EVERLARK

Where the boy is the sun, and the girl sees stars.

Peeta's eyes are thick with sleep as they open, registering not only how uncomfortable his sofa was to sleep on, but also that there was a very naked Katniss Everdeen sleeping on top of him.

If only teenage him knew, he thought for a selfish moment, beaming to himself as gazed down at Katniss' frame, her bare back exposed to him, with the rest of their bodies covered by a thin scratchy blanket. Last night had felt unreal, and Peeta's satisfied, post-orgasmic thoughts had assured him that it had all been a dream. He'd been certain that when he would wake up he would find that none of it had been real.

Real or not real? He asked himself, bringing his hand that had wrapped around her higher up Katniss' back, the smooth skin feeling incredibly warm and real to him. Real or not real? He asked again as his hand travelled to her mass of hair, some of it had somehow ended up in Peeta's mouth at some point in the night, real. Incredibly real.

His heart swooped as he closed his eyes, breathing out and trying to regulate his heartbeat. He'd had sex with Katniss Everdeen. The same girl who had all but declared her hatred for him just a few months ago.

Bending his neck slightly, Peeta kissed the top of Katniss' head, indulgently smelling her scent of honey and pine that was saturated there. The late May sun was shining through the apartment windows again, lighting up Katniss' tan skin in a glow that Peeta's pinky-pale skin could never achieve.

As Katniss shifted against Peeta in her sleep, he became very aware of the half-hard state his cock was in, he had never woken up like this before, naked and wanting more after a night of sex. There were usually just feelings of self-hatred and the planning of how to make a quick escape in his mind after his one-night stands.

But this wasn't a one-night stand, Katniss had told him she loved him. Him, plain old Peeta with the fake leg and family issues. He couldn't quite let himself believe it just yet.

Before could spiral into a wave of self-pity, he watched as Katniss' grey eyes fluttered open, the sleepy soft look on her face so endearing that he couldn't help but beam as he met her sleepy eyes. He felt well-rested, although they had been both too lazy to pull out the futon and had slept on the hard couch. Katniss had used Peeta as a mattress, he supposed.

"No nightmares," Peeta whispered to Katniss, watching as she furrowed her brows for a moment, confused about her whereabouts for a second before remembering what had happened the night before and relaxing her face again. The look of pure serenity she wore filled Peeta with love, he doubted that many people got to see Katniss Everdeen so unguarded, and he relished in it.

"I'm glad," she whispered back, sitting up slowly and brushing her hair out of both of their faces, a small blush on her cheeks as she rubbed her body against Peetas by accident. She had always been so pure and bashful about nudity.

"I can't remember the last time that I slept through the entire night," Peeta confessed as he brought his hand to her bare shoulder, finger brushing over a purple mark he had made the night before. It filled him with an unusual sense of pride as he skimmed it, he liked that she wore some evidence of their night together. Mine, he thought, that primal sense of manliness taking over his rational mind for a moment.

Not officially, he remembered, knowing how they had never given 'them' a label. Peeta vowed to fix that as he smirked down at her.

"You've got something on your shoulder," Peeta teased as he tapped the mark, watching as Katniss bent down to see it, rolling her eyes as she snaked a hand to his jaw, tapping the sensitive skin there.

"I wouldn't get too cocky, you've got one to match," Katniss purred, kissing the spot gently, already igniting that spark that Peeta had grown so used to over the last few months.