Disclaimer: I don't own Katniss and Peeta or any of the other characters. Suzanne Collins owns it all.
I can't believe I did that. I probably just killed Peeta. That wasn't my intention, but, they'll probably attack me and he'll get caught up in it. I'm such an idiot! I'm about to go in my room and mope when I remember I share it with Peeta now. And I just don't want him to see me cry anymore. I start walking into the TV room when I feel someone grab me from behind. I knot my hand in a fist ready to strike, but turn to realize it's only Peeta.
"Wow. Calm down Katniss it's just me.." He says quietly. He let's go of my waist and walks around to my front. How could I have almost punched him? I'm an even bigger idiot than before!
"I'm sorry I.. Training has just gotten me all messed up." He looks down at me smiling.
"It's okay. I shouldn't have grabbed you without letting you know I was here." He's apologizing? He didn't do anything wrong!
"Peeta you're my husband, you are supposed to grab my waist without being punched." He just smiles the most silly smile. A Peeta smile, and my favorite.
"In ordinary marriages that's true, but we aren't in an ordinary marriage." He points out. I just nod my head. I stand up on my tip toes and give him a kiss.
"I love you," I say when we are finished kissing.
"I love you too." He says smiling. We lay on the couch and talk about the most random things. My legs are laying on top of his and he's tickling my feet. I love this. Just acting like a normal couple for one of the first times ever. Everyone leaves us alone, which we are thankful for.
"So what did you do for the Gamemakers?" Peeta asks.
Uh oh.. "I hung a dummy.." I say quietly. He nods his head. "..and painted Seneca Crane's name on it.."
He looks at me applaud by my actions. His striking blue eyes lock on mine immediately.
"Did you see what I did?" He asks smiling slightly. The floor cleaner. Covering it up.
"You painted, didn't you? What was it?" I ask smirking.
"I painted Rue. After you covered her with flowers." I nod sadly.
"You'd think we planned it!" Peeta says laughing. I imagine that's precisely what the Gamemakers thought.
"Great minds think alike," I repeat the old saying my father used to say. He smiles broadly and rolls his eyes.
"Lovebirds we'd kind of like to watch the scores," Haymitch says after a while.
"Fine," I claim in a monotone. I move over to make room for everyone.
"I probably got a 1. Or a 0." I whisper to Peeta. He just nods. Probably the both of us. Caesar starts dealing out the scores the Careers mostly get 9's or 8's, everyone else gets a little lower.
"Katniss Everdeen Mellark gets a 12!" Caesar announces. What?!
"And Peeta Mellark with a 12! Looks like District 12 has the 12's this year!" Okay what's going on?.. We look over at Haymitch who is staring at us with the utmost confusion.
"What did you idiot teenagers do now!?" He shouts.
"You see Haymitch, I got kind of carried away and painted Rue. After Katniss covered her in flowers.." Peeta explains. Haymitch stands up and starts pacing. Soon he'll be calling for a drink.
"That sort of thing it's forbidden, Peeta. Forbidden." Effie says with her eyes closed, and fingers to her temples. I have to get this attention off him.
"I hung a dummy and painted Seneca Crane's name on it." I announce. Everyone stops the whole 'Peeta you idiot' and starts with the 'Katniss you complete idiot' looks. Even our stylists join in.
"I can see why you two are perfect together, you can't even do private training sessions right! This is your second year in the boat Katniss! The Capitol wants you both targeted by the enemy, so they gave you high scores. But guess what? The Gamemakers aren't going to go easy on you now either! You've just killed yourselves!" Haymitch screams in rage.
"I'm sorry okay.." I say.
"How did you even know about that Katniss?" Effie asks.
"It was supposed to be a secret? Well when President Snow told me he made it seem like everyone knew." Effie leaves the room and heads down the hall. Cinna just shakes his head and stares at the ground.
"Both of you just go on. I can't stand to look at either if you at the moment." Haymitch says carelessly.
"Something to drink, please!" He calls as we walk down the hall. Well, Haymitch is back.
"That went well," I say once my door shuts.
"Haymitch always makes things go so well." I laugh lightly.
"You wanna know something?" I ask. His eyebrows curve up.
"What's that?"
"I'm really tired. And I'm going to sleep." He shakes his head.
"There is the loud, rebellious girl I love." I grimace at him.
"I'm joking. Go to sleep, Katniss. I'll be here for you."
My heart leaps about a mile when he says the last part. I know he loves me, and I know I love him, but there isn't anything better than hearing him say things about always staying with me.
"Always," I respond laying down on the bed.
"Always." He mimics sits down next to me.
"Did you know I used to watch you? From a distance I mean, I didn't stalk you." I find myself blurting out. I hate blurting out things. He arches his eyebrows, his blue eyes staring intently into mine.
"No, but I watched you." I didn't know that at the time, but he told me last year. He takes his shirt off throws it towards the door.
"You were popular," I state quietly staring at his abs. He rests his chin on my head.
"I had a few good friends, and they had friends, and so on, that was it. You were normally what I paid attention to anyway."
"Why did you ever like me Peeta? I'm thrilled you're my husband and I love you soo much.. But why did you have a crush on me out of everyone else there is? I'm not the prettiest. I wasn't popular.."
He moves his chin and raises mine to meet his.
"No your not the prettiest your the most gorgeous woman in Panem. It doesn't matter if you are popular. You are Katniss... You just have this energy that radiates off you. And your voice is why I started liking you." My unbelievable cheeks decide to heat up.
"You know I didn't have a pregnancy glow in kindergarten." I point out. He ignores me.
"You hooked me like a.." He pauses and thinks for a few seconds. "A siren!" Maybe I need to call the hospital for him.
"What's a siren?" I ask him carefully. He smiles.
"My grandfather told me this story about these girls with mermaid tails, sirens, that lived in the ocean and they would lure sailors to their death by singing. And that my wife, was you."
"I didn't lure you to your death." I blurt out. But I then realize I kind of did.
"No, but you will be the death of me." I narrow my eyes at him.
"Stop telling me stories like that. Tell me the happiest thing from your childhood."
"I don't have many happy memories, Katniss."
"Well, what is your happiest?" He frowns and makes a face like he's trying to think.
"I was at your house and you just broke your foot from falling on ice, we were sitting on the couch and you were stroking Prim's hair. It just felt right. Like that's what was supposed to happen at that moment at that time. Somehow I just knew I was supposed to be right there with you."
My heart melts. I don't even point out it's not really a childhood memory, but I know his childhood wasn't the best. "Every moment I'm with you feels right." He plays with my hair.
"What's your happiest memory?"
A happy memory? I can't say the goat one.
"That time you came over for Prim's birthday. You were so scared she wouldn't like you. And of course, she did."
"I wasn't scared!" He claims.
"You said you felt sick." I point out.
"Oh shut up!" He says playful, his eyes shining brightly.
"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks."
"Funny. I thought you were going to sleep?" Oh yeah, I was.
"You are too distracting! Goodnight Peeta. I love you." He shakes his head.
"Good night Katniss. I love you too."
Someone's tapping me on the shoulder. What does Peeta need that he has to wake me up for? I open my eyes and realize it isn't Peeta but the red-headed avox. She hands me a note from Haymitch and Effie saying Peeta and I don't have to practice for our interviews this year, because of all of our practices. Which pretty much means; they know you both anyway.
"Thank you," I mumble as she exits. Where is Peeta, I need to tell him the change of plans.
I walk into the bathroom, 'his room', the living room, and the dining area but I don't find him anywhere. I start freaking out. I even walk up to Darius and ask him if he's seen Peeta and he only shakes his head. What if they killed Peeta so they could send Haymitch in? They could replace him and just say he died in training.. No.. They couldn't have! I frantically start running (as well as a pregnant girl can) around the dining area and asking every avox if they've seen him. And each time they shake their head.
I decide to check the bedrooms again, and I run into another avox in the hall. I keep glancing around the hall behind him. "Have you seen Peeta?"
"Yeah, every time I look in the mirror," Peeta says. Peeta! I stop looking around the hall and look up at him.
"What the hell! I thought you were dead! I thought they killed you!" I sob into his chest. He wraps his arms around my waist
"I didn't mean to Katniss. I'll tell you next time."
"There won't be a next time! Where the hell where you at anyways?!" I snap at him.
"I was in Effie's room." He responds soothingly. What?! "Peeta James Mellark! Why were you in her room?!" I scream. His steps back from me slightly.
"I went to find Haymitch and he was in her room. They were deciding that we aren't having lessons today. So no lessons by the way. I'm sorry for freaking you out, Katniss. By the way good motherly 'he acted up yell'." Me motherly? No.
"No it's my fault. I just always assume the worst. Want to go eat breakfast?" I ask thinking about all the delicious food they had out.
"Of course." He says. I grab his hand as we walk down the hall.
"Nice yelling, Sweetheart," Haymitch remarks. I send him a murderous glare.
"You aren't funny."
"You'll come around one day sweetheart." He promises. I highly doubt that.
Sometime after breakfast Peeta and I go onto the roof and just lay there all day. We went to the room directly after breakfast and ordered extra food for a lunch picnic. We play a game where you throw an apple against the forced field and the other person would have to catch it. By afternoon I lay my head in Peeta's lap and he claims he's practicing his tying knots. Though I really know he just wants an excuse to play with my hair.
"I wish we could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever." Peeta announces "Me too." I claim.
I wake up to someone kissing me on the cheek. "Honey, wake up."
"I'm awake," I grumble.
"I didn't think you'd want to miss the sunset."
"Thanks. It's beautiful," I say. I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.
"It's about time for dinner so if you want to go eat, we can go," Peeta says.
"No. I want to stay here for a while longer. We have enough food for us both anyway. Besides I'm tired of making everyone so.." I try to find the right word.
"Miserable. Everyone's crying. And then there is Haymitch.." Peeta says, taking the words out of my mouth.
"You could be a spokesperson, you know. If we lived in a different time." I tell him.
"But we only will get the lives we have." Alrighty, then Peeta.
We stay on the roof until bedtime and then slip quietly into my room without encountering anyone. The next morning, we're roused my prep team. The sign of Peeta and me sleeping together is too much for Octavia because she bursts into tears right away.
"You remember what Cinna told us," Venia says fiercely. Octavia nods and goes out sobbing.
Peeta has to return to his room for prep, and I'm left alone with Venia and Flavius. They barely even talk. It's nearly lunch when I feel something dripping on my shoulder and turn to find Flavius, who's snipping away at my hair with silent tears running down his face. Venia gives him a look, and he leaves.
Sorry for being extremely late! Thank you for reading! Correct me on the error of my ways (aka grammar and spelling)!
-KD Howell