The snow had made the day impossible. Not only had Peeta been short-handed at the bakery because Dara couldn't leave her kids home alone, but after the morning rush and panic caused by the weather, sales has slowed to a stand-still. Rather than sit around and watch the clock while trying to ignore his aching leg, Peeta had closed up early. The road back to Victor's Village wasn't cleared yet, as the snow was still falling, leaving Peeta feeling even more sour and dejected until her house came into view. With the amount of snowfall, he knew she wouldn't be out hunting. She'd be stuck inside and in need of distraction. He could go home, and drop into the tub to try to work out some of his aches, or he could surprise her by stopping by early.

They'd gotten into the habit of eating dinner together and working on the Memory Book she had suggested to help remember all the fallen Tributes, friends and family. Eventually, they'd head off to bed, with the excuse of avoiding nightmares. At first that really had been the all of it, until one night he'd been so happy to have her there when he woke that he kissed her. Slowly, she began returning the affection until they'd finally graduated to heavy petting—but in the light of day, they always regressed back to their platonic stalemate.

Approaching the house, he fought the excitement of getting to actually spend part of his day with her. It was so rare since the bakery had reopened that he'd get a day to himself and he was looking forward to distracting her from the solemnity of the Memory Book with a card game, or maybe baking cookies together. Anything to remind them that they were still teenagers.

As he quietly breached her door, he caught a faint groan from upstairs, and his immediate thought was that she was in trouble. After all, it seemed there was always something going wrong around them—the Games, the War, the Nightmares, the Flashbacks. He took the steps by two, ignoring his leg as best he could and heard yet another moan emitting from her room—was she having a nightmare? He pushed open the door…

Skin. Beautiful olive skin, splayed out across the bed. Dark, luminous waves of hair draped across a pillow. Grey eyes barely visible under two heavy lids. One hand lightly tugging at a dusky nipple. And a graceful arm, dipping down to the hollow between two lithe and wantonly spread legs, where fingers worked furiously at the tight little nub that Peeta's brothers had spoken of in hushed and reverential tones. Suddenly, he knew why. If that little nub could cause the scene set before him, Peeta knew it was the path to his salvation as well. This was definitely going in the slideshow.

The low moan that escaped his own lips before he could pull it back caused her to jump and her eyes to widen in shock. Quickly, her legs clamped shut and her hand shot across her chest to cover her breasts. His eyes dropped to the floor as he struggled to find an apology.

"Katniss, I….I thought you were in trouble. It sounded like you might be in pain, or were having a nightmare. I…I'm sorry. I'll…I'll go back to my place."

Katniss sat up in the bed, her arm still shielding her chest from his view, but her eyes relaxed slightly until they took on that lustful look again.

"Peeta." That was all. Just his name. Not in anger. Not in embarrassment. Just a breathy whisper that almost sounded relieved, forcing him to bring his eyes up to meet her. Her tongue slid out to wet her lips and she continued staring at him, seemingly battling with her own thoughts.

He shuffled to turn to leave when he heard her breath catch. "Don't go."

As he slowly turned back to face her, he saw her hand extended to him. The same hand that, just moments ago, had been playing in the valley where his mind tried not to dwell. He took a halting step forward and tried to interpret the look on her face. In the looming silence, he felt compelled to explain himself.

"I closed the bakery early. The snow is coming down pretty heavy. No one is out and about. And I figured you wouldn't be out hunting, so I just…" She had taken his hand and pulled him closer to the bed until he was sitting.

"I was thinking of you," she whispered. Her hand guided his up to her breast where she encouraged him to pinch her nipple with his calloused fingers.

"You were?" His thoughts were already distracted, making simple conversation difficult.

"I've been so bored all morning. And I still had some of your cheese buns downstairs from last night, so I heated one up for lunch. I kept picturing you working on the dough. The way the muscles in your back always flex as you lean into it."

Her hand had gone to his jacket and was slipping it from his shoulders. Her nails grazed his biceps as the jacket dropped. "And how your arms twitch while you knead it. You stick out your tongue too, just here, at the corner of your mouth."

She traced his bottom lip with her finger. He was palming her breast now and she let out another low moan. She tugged up his shirt and he lifted his arms to help her remove it, swallowing heavily at where her intention seemed to lie.

"I've never been so jealous of actual food before." His hand cupped her chin before pulling her forward for a kiss. Soft and gentle. Tentative.

"Katniss, you want me. Real or not real?"

"Real. Very real."

"Were you just…did I walk in on you…?"

"Fantasizing about you?"

He nodded his head, unable to form the words himself.

"Real."

She took his hand from her chin and slid it down her stomach to her pussy. He hissed at the wetness he found there and gentle stroked against her slick folds.

"And that's what fantasizing about you did to me."

"Katniss…I want to touch you, but…"

"Peeta, please." It was all the invitation he needed. As much as his brain screamed that this was moving too fast, that they'd never done anything like this in the lucid light of day, that she was going to regret letting him do this and might stop talking to him altogether as a result, he could no sooner stop himself than he could stop breathing. She was soft, and wet, and looking at him with such desire and…what he could swear looked like love, but he knew better than to dare think it. He teased her folds open and found that heavenly nub, lightly rubbing across it with his thumb and watching as her head lolled back. He nervously slid a finger into her, and reveled at the tight muscles that rippled around him.

"Oh God, Katniss."

She seemed to force her head back up and brought her hand to rest on the zipper of his pants.

"Peeta, I want to touch you too."

She popped the top button and he lifted slightly off the bed to allow her to remove his pants, sitting back down to shuffle off his wet shoes and let the pants slide to the floor. She tugged at his shoulders and he moved to lay next to her on the bed, until their lengths were pressed against one another. Leaning in to kiss him again, she slid her hand into his boxers at the same moment, causing him to gasp as her hand wrapped around his thick member. She stroked him lightly, tentatively, before asking him to take off his boxers.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Katniss?" He was too afraid that this moment was going to end, that she might suddenly come out of her daze and want nothing to do with him.

"Peeta," her smile was a bit exasperated, "there are much better things you could be doing with your mouth right now other than talking."

He took the cue, slid off his boxers, and saw her eyes widen as they took him in, all of him. It dawned on him that this was the first time she was really seeing him completely naked, her bashfulness toward nudity always preventing it until now. The look of awe on her face had him blushing, but he did nothing to shield himself, instead using the moment to take in all of her as well.

He tucked his finger under her chin and tugged her toward him for a kiss. His tongue ran along her bottom lip before lightly sucking it between his teeth. He couldn't tell whether the moan that escaped was from her or himself. Emboldened, he kissed his way down her neck to find her right nipple and licked at it gently, watching it pebble at the attention. Her back arched toward him, bringing the bud back to his lips. This time he sucked it in eagerly, and was rewarded with the feeling of her hand returning to his cock.

She'd touched him like this before, in the dark. He'd woken to find her groping at him when he'd gotten an erection in his sleep. At the time, it had seemed mostly curiosity, until she'd asked him to help her, guide her, so that he would enjoy it. She'd been so sweet and naïve in the moment, he'd barely been able to hold back from coming right away. In the times that had followed, though few, she'd gotten bolder and more sure of herself, until she seemed to enjoy it too.

Now, with no darkness of night to hide their faces, he took the time to watch her as she glanced down at where they touched. She seemed fascinated, pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth. As he followed her gaze, he noticed that her hips were thrusting toward him almost imperceptibly. She continued to stroke him as he gently pushed on her hip to encourage her to lay back again. He moved over her, so that he was kneeling between her legs, easily ignoring the pain in his leg by focusing on her hand's ministrations. His eyes traced over her again, following the trail of scars that seemed to lick over her hip and belly like the flames themselves.

"Katniss, you're so beautiful." And his mouth was on her before she could raise any objections. He traced kisses from her jaw down to her breasts, trying to keep himself from getting carried away in the sensation of her hand, but finding it impossible to do. His kisses became more frantic, fevered as he felt the tension building below his cock. Finally, he sought out her lips again and breathed into them.

"I'm going to cum."

The sigh on her lips was barely distinguishable as his name, but pushed him over the edge. His cum splashed against her belly as he kissed her deeply. He reached to grab a tissue to clean her up and inched his way down the bed until his face was level with her navel. He placed a soft kiss below it and felt his stubble brush against her triangular down, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her. She glanced down at him, her eyes widening as she seemed to realize where he was headed.

"There are better things to do with my mouth, you say?"

Scooping an arm under each knee, he nestled himself in the valley of her legs and just breathed in the scent of her before placing kisses along each thigh. Easing closer, he nuzzled into her folds with his nose, just barely making contact with her clit. The shudder that moved through her was encouragement enough. Using two fingers to hold open her hood, he found the nub that had so fascinated him and kissed it. Another twitch, a moan, and a hand laced into his hair, and he couldn't hold back. Trying to remember all the advice his brothers had given him in the darkness of their shared bedroom, Peeta alternately sucked and licked at the treasure he had found. He traced the alphabet over it; wrote out the words 'I love you,' so at least he would know, and when he slipped two fingers deep inside, curling them into her and finding yet another touch of paradise, she shattered around him, crying out his name loud enough to elicit a honk from the cold geese next door.

Her clutch on his hair softened to a caress against his cheek and he gazed up to see her more peaceful and happy than he ever had before. She tugged at his chin, encouraging him to climb back up the bed for a kiss, and he wondered what she thought as she tasted herself on his lips.

When she pulled back, she smiled at him.

"Peeta?"

"Yes, Katniss."

"Thank you for coming home early."