Never Yours (Peeta Mellark X Reader)

Chapter 21--"I'm Sorry"

Instantly, you whipped your head to your left. "Who's there?" you demanded, your grip tightening on the knife.

The hoarse voice laughed again. "Why hello there, (Y/N)."

"P-Peeta?" you asked, crouching by the pile of rocks. "Are you--AHH!"

Peeta's eyes suddenly flew open, and the blue against the grey startled you. "Camouflage," he smiled. "The last line of defense."

"Ah, you," you smirked, helping him out of the rock pile and pulling him away. "I honestly thought I would never see you again!" you cried now, hugging him so tightly and laughing in relief. "And that, my friend, is very effective defense. I almost didn't see you."

"Well, now you do," Peeta grinned, helping you remove all the rocks so that he could stretch again. "Ahh. That feels better."

You nodded as you held out a hand to help him up, but then thought better. "Wait. Your ankle."

The smile was soon replaced by shock on Peeta's face, and he bowed his head low as he rolled up the leg of his pants, showing not only the ankle that had been crushed while he was running away from the fire balls, but also the nasty burn on the calf of his other leg. Your breath immediately hitched. No way could he be able to walk.

"Do you have any first aid things?" you asked.

"Yeah. Bandages. Gauze. Haymitch also sent me medicine, but with me lying low here I didn't have time to put any more on," he admitted. "I managed to hide my bag over there," he added, pointing off to another shelf of rock just over your shoulder, "but I doubt I can walk and get it."

"You're right. Best if you stay here," you said. "I'll give you a knife to defend." With that, you gave him a blade that Clove gave you--a fairly long blade with a sharp point, somewhat like a dagger. To this, Peeta nodded and glanced at it in awe.

"That's amazing," he murmured, smiling his usual grin as he tested the weight and balance of the knife in his hand. "You must have gotten a lot from the Cornucopia. All I had was a knife, but it's in my pack."

"I'll get it," you said, getting up from his side as you walked over to the shelf where he said his bag was. Sure enough, there was a black handle sticking out from the pebbles, and you yanked it free, dusting the surface of the pack off and ridding it of any rock powder. Then you went back to Peeta.

"No one there?" you asked.

Peeta shook his head. "No one. I guess everyone's trying to let the news sink in. That two winners could be allowed from the same district."

"Funny why they bring this up," you shrugged. "I mean, there's six of us left, and there are only two districts with a chance of winning under this new rule."

"Two? Oh. Us, and District 2," Peeta realized as he watched you open his bag, locating the burn medicine. "How's everything with them?"

You shook your head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"(Y/N)," Peeta murmured.

"No!" you cried. "Stop thinking that I might be able to open up to you, Peeta. We're not even friends anymore. Why do you suddenly care about me?"

Unbeknownst to you, this immediately wounded Peeta. "Are you seriously still snapping at me?" he demanded.

"I wish I wouldn't have to, but you have a girlfriend back home who's probably waiting for you," you retorted, grabbing a bandage and wetting it by the river, coming back and then cleaning up the wound. "Who can't lie? No one wouldn't fall for Katniss Everdeen. She's probably much better than I am."