Knolling.
The ruse has got them together many nights now–forced together to enforce Capitol propaganda and to save them. At first she minded, the awkwardness of what happened on the train fresh and painful for the both of them. She was confused, she'd said, and he was too angry to listen. She was angry too, to find that the kisses and the playfulness and easiness were, on his end, true. He had tricked her too, without meaning it. She didn't breathe a word to him of it. They had spent the better of the year fitting together some semblance of a friendship behind-the-scenes. Only Haymith knows of their contentions, but Katniss feels Gale's pressure on her too–he must suspect something stormy under their star-crossed surface. He opens a bit to her more every month, touching her back to the small (assuredly so) and hugging her shoulders longer than necessary. Only his fear of the Capitol keeps his actions cautioned. Katniss doesn't like it the way she likes Peeta's once-affections. She doesn't exactly hate the tingle Gale brings, but it is something she can do without.
Peeta's hands are different.
Back on the last Reaping day, she knew everything between her and Gale was platonic. She wasn't in denial; her lack of romance with him was clear-minded. She isn't as sure now, the way he has lately learned to ask for more. He was audacious enough to steal a kiss from her last weekend when they met–her lips didn't really move with his, but he didn't seem to need her help at all. It was quick and messy, but Gale had a look of smug on this face. With Peeta, her wits have never been clear. They've always had a chemical air about the two of them. If one reacted, so did the other. With Gale, she doesn't move and doesn't think. They are a very boring science, she admits. She just lets him express himself in the way he likes. Nothing will come of it even if it could, for the Capitol quietly monitors the young romance of Peeta and Katniss.
She doesn't have the time to be angry. She just crosses the paved road of District 12, quietly running through the crooks of the Victor's Village. She's there now and knows his door isn't locked. He does so purposely, but never says so. She slips into his room, navigating his discarded clothes and lets her braid out. Katniss crawls onto his bed and without seeing whether he is awake or not, kisses the side of his face. He's awake. He doesn't move at first, determined to be resentful, but things at night are different–when she comes calling, he can hardly will anything love, his or hers or nobody's at all.
Peeta pulls Katniss closer and kisses her. Whatever, he says.
Katniss doesn't hear a breath of it.
I love this book but do not own it. Disregards second book for the moment.